The Phoenix Flight
by ArgPirates
Summary: As a flight attendant, Kagome has successfully avoided her past for some time until it returns to haunt her in the form of a very tall and intimidating passenger.
1. Waiting

**The Phoenix Flight, chapter one. Enjoy.**

It was extremely busy in the terminal. The holiday rush was at its height, causing even the most seasoned and even-tempered of travelers to become impatient with the slowed navigation through the airport. Tired parents feebly tried to quiet their crabby children, and the more self-important passengers of the world carried their agitation around with them like another piece of luggage. The hustle and bustle of people rushing to their connections, aggravated travelers waiting for delayed flights, and the occasional frazzled flight attendant was commonplace, though it was not to the liking of a certain business traveler who, newspaper unfurled, waited for his imminent demise. This demise came in the form of a flight to Tokyo.

Sesshomaru started his professional life as an entrepreneur this time around, and his name had become well known in the business world after the twenty-five years he had put into his company. Unfortunately, twenty-five years was all that he could hope to get in without rousing suspicions. To a human eye, Sesshomaru could barely scrape the age of twenty-seven, and he was pushing for fifty-two. As cloaking spells could only do so much at that point, the demon procured for himself a reservation on the Phoenix Flight, the preferred method of gaining a new start. This particular flight occurred once every few years to keep up with projected and current crash statistics on airlines so as not to cause suspicion. The objective of the Phoenix flight was to convincingly imitate an airplane crash that would leave no survivors. This provided the means for many demons to feign deaths; they could start anew without having to deal with the evidence involved with other circumstances. After perishing in the tragic accident, Sesshomaru would spend anywhere from five years to a decade under the radar, then start again under a different name. His brows furrowed as he thought about the upcoming experience. He would much rather expire in a more creative fashion, but crashing his own jet for the third time was simply a waste of funds, and he didn't feel like coming up with anything else. No longer reading, he went through his mental checklist once more, even though his story was completely full proof.

First on the list was his usual transportation. The private jet was reported as grounded, a fictional problem with the electrical system preventing its takeoff. Due of the nature of his extremely booked schedule the next day (which was his doing), there was nothing that could be done. He would be forced to travel with the rest of the frenzied public in a crowded Boeing 777 with its recycled air, the reek of passengers previous and present, the sounds of a few hundred travelers wrecking havoc upon his sensitive hearing, and of course, the quality of the food served aboard. What he would receive tonight for his meal would be depressingly bland, especially compared to the very rare steak normally awaiting him in his own plane. To avoid thinking any farther down this path, Sesshomaru turned his attention to the terminal, peering furtively over his paper. People watching was one of his more recent hobbies, something he picked up since fewer things in his life kept his attention these days.

The seating area was completely full of travelers. To his left, he caught the eye of yet another woman staring at him, which, while common, was no less detested. Modern women were much less tactful than the females of years past, openly declaring their interest in his person. The woman wasn't even seeing the real thing, but a magically disguised version of him. A human version. He narrowed his eyes minutely at the woman before moving his attention elsewhere. On the right, an old crone fidgeted with a suspiciously yowling handbag, no doubt containing an unhappily confined feline. He let out a nearly inaudible sigh. Confined was exactly how Sesshomaru felt. The former taiyoukai allowed himself to daydream for several moments about eras long past. Back when immortal demons were accepted as a part of society. There was once a time where he could have used his cloud or orb of energy to travel without being labeled as a threat to air security. Grimly, he remembered his first and only encounter with heat seeking missiles. It certainly was lucky that he had accumulated enough wealth over the centuries to keep the United States government silent about that particular incident.

The youkai was awakened from his reverie by the intercom calling the first section of ticket holders to the plane. If he were more prone to showing emotion, a grimace would have graced his elegant features. He stood, folded his newspaper, and placed the strap of his bag over his shoulder. Sesshomaru began to prepare himself for the next fourteen hours that would be nothing short of torture.

*

Her luggage was stored. Everything needed for the flight was stocked; each seat was complete with a blanket, pillow, and the small complimentary bag of toiletries. Calm and collected, Kagome Higurashi straightened her pencil skirt and adjusted her nametag. Today would be her first flight catering specifically to first class, and she was determined to make this flight run perfectly. This pressurized cabin was the one thing in her life she could control, and she had grown to be extremely adept at it.

The ex-priestess took in the empty plane before the passengers arrived, and let out a sigh, thinking about this particular flight's destination. Tokyo. Home. It was a place she now avoided. When other attendants would place their bids to fly closer to their home base, Kagome preferred to fly anywhere but. Her nights were spent in various countries, thanks to the meal and hotel vouchers she received as part of her job. It was somewhat gratifying that she had the power to go anywhere in the world and only return home when she felt like it. Unfortunately, she was an employee of an Asian airline, and with that came the necessary evil of flying into the capital of Japan occasionally. Even if one took extensive steps to ensure they would not. Today should have been another successful attempt at avoiding her hometown, but one of the attendants scheduled for this flight called in sick. Kagome just so happened to be in Boston at the time, in between flights, so she agreed to trade with Aiko, who would be headed to Okinawa the next day. Hopefully Aiko would be feeling better by then. The plane was still silent, not quite ready for boarding, so Kagome allowed her mind to wander for a few moments, thinking back to when her life hadn't consisted of running away from her memories.

She reflected on her brief stint in the feudal era. It hadn't seemed so short whilst she traveled the ancient countryside with her companions. With them, it was if time had come to a standstill; it felt as though they would always be together, collecting shards from various demons, easily skirting the looming danger of Naraku, who never seemed to want to be found. The wonderful memories she collected from her journey with Sango, Miroku, Kirara, Shippo, and Inuyasha paled with memories from the of that one day in the winter that had changed her outlook on life considerably. Kagome took in a sharp breath, feeling a deep pain in her chest at the remembrance. The sudden entrance of passengers halted the direction her thoughts were headed. Grateful for the distraction, Kagome put on her most charming smile and played the part of greeter.

"Welcome aboard!"


	2. Boarding

Boarding was tedious. Since it was supposed to be an international flight to a crowded metropolis, security was excessive. As an extremely intimidating individual, Sesshomaru was rarely bothered by an over zealous member of security. It seemed, however, that today was just not his day. An overweight human demanded he remove his contact lens solution, of all things. By one tenth of an ounce, apparently it was too big for today's carry-on standards, even though the security earlier had allowed it to pass. The fact that he even required contact lens solution was infuriating enough; his eyesight was slightly less than perfect after so many centuries, and he found this unacceptable, even if he was nearing his one thousand and eighty-fifth year of existence. The thought that his parting with such an inconsequential item would be able to stop him from causing damage if he wished was laughable. Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Sesshomaru tossed the liquid into the nearest trashcan and went on his way, showing his ticket briefly before heading down the long hallway. The airport had attempted to alleviate the blandness of the walls by adding some witless quotes and adverts in frames down its length. Advertising shoved in his face was included on the list of things about public transit that revolted him, and at that moment he wished fervently for his own plane and his steak. Resigned, Sesshomaru entered the walkway that led inside. All thoughts in his mind came to a screeching halt when he entered the airplane and saw the flight attendant.

The stoic demon came to a stop in the doorway, causing several people behind him to grumble. That was the only sign that he was completely shocked, save for an infinitesimal widening of his eyes. He did not recognize her face, but her scent flooded his olfactory senses and brought up memories from centuries past. Her face had faded from his memory, but Sesshomaru prided himself upon never forgetting a scent. He stared down at her for another few seconds, breathing in her familiar and very human scent. She started and looked back at him with wide eyes, face pale with obvious surprise and fright. Her reaction proved her identity, but the taiyoukai was still reeling. How was it possible for Inuyasha's priestess to be alive when over five centuries had gone by since their last meeting? And on top of that, why was the woman on the Phoenix flight, of all flights?

*

Kagome stared back, speechless. It was Sesshomaru, one of Inuyasha's numerous enemies. He was on an airplane. With her. The blood drained from her face at this realization. Surely he couldn't remember her after five hundred years…she couldn't even remember what she had eaten for lunch the day before! One look at his penetrating gaze crushed her hopes. He recognized her all right, even after all of that time that had passed since their last encounter. She watched as his eyes moved from her face to the round pink stone resting just below her collarbone. If he had any doubts about her identity before, the Shikon no Tama around her neck clearly dispersed them. After several seconds, she still couldn't bring herself to say anything. Clothed in a tailored black suit, his tall stature seemed to fill the small space. If anything, Lord Sesshomaru looked more intimidating than ever before. Even with a cloaking spell diminishing his natural features and his massive aura, he was still a sight to behold. His once silver hair was jet black and held back at the nape of his neck, cut to his mid-back rather than reaching the backs of his knees. His grey eyes were still piercing, though no longer golden; they could seemingly view her to the soul. She knew that he had just as much power as he had long ago, if not more. His gaze flew back up to her own again and they spent another few moments looking into each other's eyes before a well placed mutter from another passenger got the flow of time moving again. Sesshomaru moved into the first class section, eyes not moving from her until a curtain separated them. With him gone, Kagome rediscovered her voice and began directing passengers again. It wasn't until a few moments later that she began to notice something odd.

Every passenger entering the plane had a demonic aura. There were a few weaker youkai masquerading as ugly humans, but there was a ridiculous amount of upper class youkai energy. She hadn't sensed that many auras in one place since her adventures in the feudal era, and this new development frightened her immensely. She looked to the other flight attendants, busy at their other duties. They were all demons as well! So many strong auras in once place were causing her long dormant priestess skills to go haywire. Kagome broke out in a cold sweat. No doubt they would be able to sense her at any moment. As the minutes passed and all of the passengers boarded, the youki from all three hundred demons aboard began to hit her in waves and she found herself supporting herself with the nearest wall, fighting a bout of nausea.

"Kagome!" The priestess in question turned to the source of the voice. It was one of her fellow attendants, a woman named Amaya who looked about Kagome's age, but claimed to be in her late thirties. Her aura revealed that she was an elemental; a water demon, which certainly explained that. Why hadn't she sensed that from her before? "Kagome," Amaya said, worry shining in her blue eyes. "What are you doing here?" She appeared visibly shaken. The pre flight announcements had begun over the intercom, first in English and then again in Japanese. The water demon moved to seal the door, which Kagome would have already done had she not been crippled by the wave of auras.

That was not the question Kagome had anticipated. 'Are you okay?' would have been more appropriate. "What do you mean?" Kagome asked, bewildered. "I'm covering for Aiko this flight."

"You shouldn't have. You shouldn't even be here, Kagome." Amaya opened her mouth to say something else, but the sudden movement of the plane stopped her. Anger overtook her anxious expression. "Dammit!" She grabbed Kagome's wrist, yanking her from her leaning position against the bulkhead. "Come on, we have to talk to the pilot. Now."

*

As he placed his carry-on into the overhead compartment, Sesshomaru watched as a water demon escorted the priestess up the aisle in the direction of the cockpit. His hearing had picked up the exchange behind the curtain, and it was obvious there had been a mistake. Usually there were enough connections in the necessary places that humans did not end up on something like the Phoenix Flight by accident. From what Sesshomaru had heard, he concluded that an imbecile demon scheduled for the flight must have slipped up by asking a human to cover for her. The corner of his mouth twitched. It was a strange coincidence that she should be the one to end up on the flight.

Brief A/N

1. Thanks for the reviews! Five is good considering how much time Phoenix Flight stays on the front Inuyasha page...like ten minutes.

2. Extra thanks to actual flight attendant **Gothic Jigoku Shoujo**, who is definitely a HUGE help with my flight attendant accuracy! This chapter has been revised to remove the fact that no one actually closed the door to the aircraft, haha. The next chapter would be very unfortunate if my characters were sucked out of the plane. Also, the traffic on this story has been fantastic! 365 hits! (That's more hits than two of my previous stories combined!)

Let it also be known that I post on DOKUGA as well, under the pen arg_pirates. Over 2,000 reads over there for Phoenix Flight! And for you Sess/Kag fans, Dokuga is just awesome.


	3. Explaining

Chapter three! After chapter four, I will have run out of prewritten chapters, but I am going to attempt to update once a week. However, I am a full time student with a job and other obligations, so I am not really sticking this at the top of my priorities. I do want to have a good quality of writing, though, so instead of quickly processed and crappy chapters, I hope you receive good chapters even if it means it takes me longer to update. Aaaanyway.

It might be helpful if I had a disclaimer, too, so I don't get anything unjustly removed, haha. **I don't own Inuyasha or anything related to it.** If I did the anime would definitely have some Kag/Sess romance…and Inuyasha and Kikyo would be transported somewhere else. Far away. Like Antarctica. And there wouldn't be stupid filler episodes all over the place, which is why I stopped watching it in like…2006.

*

Kagome's head was pounding so much due to the youki that she barely registered entering the cockpit. Amaya was saying something about how there had been a mistake; she was on the plane by accident. How could Aiko have been such a complete idiot, and was there any possible way to turn the plane around or stop it?

"What do you mean, accident?" Kagome managed to get out, leaning against the door. "I am so confused right now. All I'm doing is covering for someone; it happens all the time." She watched as Amaya and Hiroshi, the co-pilot, traded nervous looks. Youko, the captain, merely seemed irritated that this was taking place inside the small space while he began the process of taking off. Kagome put a hand to her head; thinking was not helping her headache in the least, and no one seemed to notice that she was on the verge of passing out. "Will someone please tell me what is going on? I can't even think right now with these demonic aur-" The nervous looks turned into incredulous stares. Kagome went pale; she had just said way too much. Being considered sane by the general population was one of her greatest accomplishments after her feudal experience, and she had just blown it. Wonderful.

"Were you about to say 'demonic auras', Kagome?" Amaya asked slowly, nervously. Hiroshi's attention was dragged from the controls as he stared at her. They didn't appear to think Kagome was crazy. Instead they both looked like kids who had been caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

"What is going on?" Kagome asked again, more quiet than before, but with much more authority.

"You can sense demonic auras?" Amaya asked in amazement, once again failing to address the question. "I thought that the people with those abilities were long gone."

"Yes, I can sense them, and obviously there is something going on because the plane is full of huge ones! What in the name of my SANITY is going on?" Kagome snapped. The world made absolutely no sense any more. At that point, Hiroshi had to return his full attention to actually making the plane take off, thanks to the command barked by Youko.

"You both need to be seated," The captain said firmly. "Nothing can be done about her, Amaya. It's too late. Just sit down and explain things to her." After opening her mouth to argue and subsequently shutting it, Amaya nodded bleakly and opened the door to let Kagome out first.

"Come on, I'll explain." Amaya said, leading Kagome to one of the seats in the galley. Dizzy as she was, Kagome buckled her belt, crossed her arms and placed one leg over the other, looking every bit as severe as she felt towards an explanation.

"Let's hear this."

"Okay, Kagome. You obviously know about demons, so at least I don't have to go into that…" She looked nervously at her hands. "This is called the Phoenix Flight. It happens every few years so that nobody gets suspicious, but the basic function of this flight is to…well…kill everyone on board." At Kagome's wide-eyed look she hurriedly continued, "But not REALLY kill them. Only to make it look that way so that we demons can actually die legitimately, since we age so slowly. Do you get what I mean?"

"You mean that everyone in here is basically faking their own death?" Kagome said slowly, watching as Amaya nodded yes. "But, how…does everyone just start again from scratch?"

"Well, in a way. Some demons are much older than others and are very wealthy because of the years they've lived and the jobs they've had, so they live comfortably for a while before usually returning to a job they've had previously. For them it's a cycle and they stay connected with the world they've left behind a lot of the time, especially the demons whose work is in the business world. For those of us that are less experienced, we go through an agency that behaves a lot like the Witness Protection Program in the United States. They assign us someplace new, get us jobs, and forbid us from contacting the humans from our previous "lives". The agency enforces this pretty strictly, too. They have tabs on several demons and will sometimes relocate you by force if they think you've been in one place for too long."

"Is that what they'll do to me?" Kagome asked, growing anxious. "Am I just going to be…sent somewhere and not be able to tell anyone?" She watched Amaya wring her hands. "I can't see my family again? My friends?" At that moment Kagome wished, more than anything, that she had spent more time with her family. She was halfway around the world all of the time and avoided them…and now it was coming back to ruin her. A nasty little voice in her head asked "what friends?" but Kagome pretended that she never heard it. No one should be hearing voices anyway. Amaya continued, pulling Kagome out of her thoughts.

"That's the thing, Kagome…I don't know what they'll do with you. You're human, and humans are never supposed to know about this, unless they're critically important to keeping our world running…" She trailed off, her silence not helping her coworker's rising panic.

"…Ugh." Kagome buried her head in her hands. Why couldn't fate leave her alone? "Isn't there anything we can do? We can't just say that I called in sick too and I wasn't on the flight?"

"Nothing like this has ever happened. I don't know what we can do." The hand wringing started up again. The stress in the room was becoming palpable, and that added to the auras permeating the plane was really starting to get to Kagome.

Of course nothing like this had happened. She was fate's chew toy. Why was that? The priestess clearly didn't remember signing up for any of it. Maybe the fault was hers. When she fell through the well for the first time, she could have run back home without a glance in the other direction. She could have ignored the puppy ears of the boy stuck to the tree; she didn't have to give in to the urge to touch them. She could have avoided the entire meeting Inuyasha thing altogether. Then the tears started coming. No, she couldn't have. She couldn't have ignored any of it. And she would do it all over again if she were given the chance. It hit her then, how much she missed them all and how it was still clear in her life.

A couple of years before, Kagome had been taking the train downtown when some punk teenager with a ponytail thought it would be fun to cop a feel. The boy was appropriately alarmed when his victim turned around to tell him off and burst into tears at the first look at his face. Kagome had jumped off at the next stop and was thirty minutes late arriving at her destination from having to walk fifteen blocks. She started seeing them everywhere after that. The little boy begging his mother for candy on the street had Shippo's eyes. The blonde man wearing the red shirt looked an awful lot like a half demon, and the martial arts instructor at the gym had a long brown ponytail just like Sango's. It was shortly after this that Kagome applied to become a flight attendant. The past still ran her life, though now it was indirectly because she was running from it, and that certainly said something about how she handled things. Her tears quickly escalated into sobs. She couldn't get away from it.

Amaya knelt beside her; at this point the seatbelt light had gone off when the plane finished climbing. The elemental demon let the woman cry for a time, then patted her leg soothingly. "I'm so sorry, Kagome." She reached up and unpinned the crying girl's nametag. "I can take care of everyone up here." She stood and retrieved a water bottle from the drink cart and pulled a pack of tissues from her pocket. "There's a first class seat open if you want it. No one will get onto you about it, I promise."

"Can I have some aspirin too?" The sobs quieted but the tears kept flowing. "I have a headache." Normally she wouldn't be so open to being babied, but this was her life, damn it! And it was being turned upside down again without her permission. Aspirin, water, and tissues in hand, Kagome wiped at her eyes before heading out to the seat, not wanting to look like a complete wreck to everyone outside.

The seat had neatly folded sections of newspaper in it, the sections that the man beside it had already finished. After a quick glance over the section he was reading, the man removed the newspaper from her seat. His gray-eyed gaze lingered on her tear-streaked face and disheveled appearance. Her thick hair was coming out of its neat ponytail; one dark section rested on her shoulder, starkly contrasting with her white button-up shirt. Kagome didn't take any notice of the face behind the paper as she was still wiping her eyes.

"Thanks." she mumbled, taking a seat. She unscrewed her water bottle and downed the aspirin before digging through the little travel bag she had pulled from the seat pocket in front of her. Soon the sleep mask she was searching for was found. After blowing her nose, Kagome slid the mask over her eyes and leaned back, trying to relax. Maybe this was just a crazy dream and she would find reality again after she slept. The man beside her still watched.


	4. Storytelling

A few hours later, Sesshomaru sent another impatient glance in the direction of the sleeping girl. He was fairly certain she had taken aspirin and not sleeping pills, but the soft snores coming from her indicated that she was not waking up anytime soon. He wouldn't be waking her either. Answers from her were much desired, but he would not reveal his impatience by forcing the woman out of sleep. Still, it irked him that his questions remained unanswered. He was a reasonably powerful being, and instant gratification was just something that came with the territory. A soft sigh escaped him before he took another sip of his screwdriver. Drinking only relieved some of the extreme boredom he was feeling since his paper had been read. Looking at the window at the clouds was not on his list of most riveting activities, either. Gazing back down at the priestess, he tried to gain answers for himself through observation.

She was not the awkward woman-child he remembered. It was obvious she had aged, but to what extent? She still smelled distinctly human, but it seemed that it had only been a few years since had last seen her. She had filled out in all of the right places, he noted appreciatively, as her chest rose and fell. The dull shine of the jewel resting on her collarbone drew his attention next. Was the answer within the Shikon Jewel? He couldn't feel anything from it, which would probably explain why other demons on the airplane weren't currently attacking her for its power. She was becoming more complicated that he thought possible. Humans were typically simple creatures. He knew this from history. After over one thousand years of observation, he considered himself an expert when it came to human habits. And this girl - woman, he admitted- simply did not make sense. Humans did not routinely reappear after half a century of absence. Another sigh escaped him. Normally he would be horrified at such an outward show of emotion, but the noise of the plane drowned out everything. No one would hear that little slip of control. He looked again. The woman was actually drooling. He remembered that Rin used to do that when she was young, and he would be forced to spend a morning removing human saliva from his heirloom pelt when such a thing occurred.

Sesshomaru blinked. It had been a long time since that child had entered his thoughts. He supposed it was the doing of the priestess and her reappearance. Rin had become nothing but dust long ago, and yet a twinge was felt in his chest as he thought of her. After several centuries of denial, the demon lord had finally accepted her as his first and only child. He really had nothing left to remember her by. Sesshomaru wasn't one to hoard things away; in fact, the only physical items he had left from that time in his life were his swords and Jaken. That toad simply refused to die, although his memory was completely shot. Just that morning Jaken had used a mobile phone to tell him that the telegraph in his home was nowhere to be found. Never mind the fact that the telegraph had been removed decades before when the telephone replaced it. Sesshomaru thought about Jaken being the one to orchestrate the finer details that faking his death would bring and very nearly shuddered. Thank goodness for the fox. He suddenly sat a hair straighter in his seat. The fox! He would know about the woman. Why didn't he think of it before? His hand hovered over the phone imbedded in the front of the seat. To his dismay, the "out of service" message appeared on the screen. Of course that would happen right as he needed to use the damned device. The plane suddenly dropped a few hundred feet. Ah. Turbulence was an even more exciting occurrence. Sesshomaru lifted up the screen covering his window. The clouds outside were a dark steel color. Evidently they had entered a storm. Too late, the intercom informed the passengers of this fact. The demon once again resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

*

The sudden drop of the plane jerked Kagome immediately from her extended nap. She was certainly used to turbulence, but that didn't mean she had to like it. Slipping the mask off of her face, she sat up, feeling her puffy eyes with her fingertips. A quick glance at the overhead light revealed that she was confined to the seat due to the turbulence, and she let out a sigh. She had been hoping to get to a mirror. Doing the best she could using only touch, she pulled the band out of her hair, allowing it to tumble down past her shoulders before she smoothed it back into its ponytail. With that taken care of, she straightened her slightly rumpled shirt. She could feel the eyes of the passenger she was sitting beside bore into her. The flight attendant was immediately aware of the presence of drying drool sitting near the corner of her mouth. Trying to be as ladylike as possible, she wet a tissue with her water bottle and dabbed at the offending area, turning sheepishly at the man beside her to apologize.

"I am so sorry you had to be subjected to that-" Kagome began, ceasing to speak as soon as she recognized him. Of course, out of the hundreds of passengers on the flight, she would be sitting beside the only one who had ever attempted to kill her. The killing perfection himself was in a power suit beside her, still watching. Kagome couldn't recall ever being this close to him before; the effect was nearly mesmerizing. His eyebrows were perfect. Did he pluck? The mental image that brought up nearly brought a hysterical giggle out of her throat, but she managed to hold it in. Had he been watching her the entire time she had been sleeping? Her eyes widened in horror at the realization. He had seen her drool!

"Indeed," He replied, eyes narrowing. After a pause, he added, "You also snore."

"I most certainly do not snore! " She hissed. Then she remembered who she was speaking to and shut her mouth. She wondered when he would disembowel her and if anyone would care. To her surprise, his mouth twitched very slightly upward. Was that a smile? Of course her mortification amused him. Her gaze flicked up to his steel-colored eyes, who where still locked upon her. Seriously, the staring was getting extremely bothersome, not to mention creepy. "Why are you staring at me?" She asked, slightly defensive, wondering vaguely if there was any drool left on her face.

"Explain." He said simply, leaning back into his seat, his eyes still upon her. Ice clinked in his glass. It was finally time for her to explain. The woman looked at him, mouth opening slightly as she searched for words. His brow dropped slightly in confusion. He didn't remember her being this slow.

"Explain?" Then it hit her. Of course he was curious. To him she should have been dead. Quite dead, in fact. There was also the fact that she was present on a flight normally reserved for demons. Both events were not normal for any regular, run-of-the-mill human. Where should she even begin? She figured, that like most stories, she did have a beginning…at least where her insane, reality-defying life was concerned. "Well...there's this well," She began, twisting the tissue in her hands as she launched into the obscenely impossible narrative that was her life. She told the silent demon about Lady Centipede dragging her five hundred years into the past and the Shikon Jewel's emergence from her body, courtesy of Inuyasha's claws, then went on to mention the moment that her sacred arrow had shattered the jewel, scattering shards all over Japan. She didn't have to explain her life in the feudal era to him, which was incredibly refreshing compared to her family. She was used to describing many things in detail to give her family an idea of what went on beyond the well, but with that problem eliminated by Sesshomaru, she quickly summarized the jewel quest (skipping the final battle's events altogether) and explained that the well closed up for good, trapping her in the time she belonged. To her amazement, Sesshomaru was an avid and skilled listener. He never interrupted with questions like Souta often did, or wore a permanent look of worry like her mother, but instead patiently took in her story, eyes only leaving hers to sip his drink occasionally. He hadn't made any sign indicating he doubted her sanity, so she supposed that was good. "And…here I am," Kagome said softly, tearing the tissue into bits. "Here I am, on this plane by accident…and I don't know what I am going to do."

Sesshomaru watched the flimsy paper in her hands as it dropped fuzzy remains onto her dark lap. This story was certainly interesting. Truthfully, it was more believable than other theories he had circulating in his mind. The time travel explanation would also finally explain the strange contraptions she had always possessed. His memory was slightly fuzzy after half of a millennium, but he did remember the pink bicycle and the schoolgirl uniform. That uniform had been a source of entertainment for him during several battles with Inuyasha. The way she tended to run about and fall down had a delightful way of revealing her underclothes to everyone around. When he had first witnessed this he had been extremely shocked at the lack of modesty the girl displayed, but he was indeed a warm blooded male and would be lying if he said he did not steal a gaze from time to time. The woman beside him had obviously matured in mind as well as body, as she was wearing much more modest attire. He watched another piece of tissue float down to land on her skirt. She was obviously distraught over her placement on the flight. It was at that moment that an idea came to him. He had many questions to ask of her, and there would not likely be sufficient time on the flight to get them answered. There was also the matter of his boredom. He was so _bored_…and she was interesting, for the time being. Much more interesting than a senile toad or a capricious fox. She had nowhere to go once they 'crashed'…so naturally he would take her with him. It wasn't everyday that he would end up on a plane with the Shikon Priestess, after all.


	5. Antarctica

Sorry for such a long absence. I had this chapter nearly finished about a month ago, but my computer crashed and everything got lost. My advice to apple owners: BACK UP YOUR SHIT. It will prevent hard drive crashes, number 1. Number 2, if such a crash occurs, it's only a minor inconvenience because you will have everything backed up. For me it was a result of not backing mine up for like two months, so I lost some, not all. Anyway, here is chapter 5!

Antarctica.

After Amaya returned with the drink, the demon lord settled into characteristic silence, his curiosity sated for the time being. Kagome glanced at him uncomfortably before immersing herself in her thoughts. Her new, past-free normal life was officially over, apparently before it could even begin. She thought again about her family. They were blissfully unaware that they'd have to mourn her in mere hours. If years of worrying about her on the other side of well didn't destroy Mama, Grandpa, and Souta, she knew that her death wouldn't either, but she knew it would hurt them, badly. Making a soft noise of despair, she sunk lower into the seat, burying her face once again into her hands. She had hurt them enough by leaving and avoiding them for all of these years.

Sesshomaru looked down at her again, expression unreadable. There was a strange tightness occurring in his chest that had been absent for quite some time. Unbidden memories of another dark haired human from his past arose.

He despised tears. Because he was significantly lacking in the area of outward emotion, it had been extremely difficult to deal with Rin when there were tears. It had helped that his ward was a child; usually a short pat on the head and a lent leg for hugging would suffice. The priestess, however, was a grown woman, and he very much doubted that she would take very kindly to a pat on the head. The demon shifted slightly, trying to make a decision quickly since the smell of her tears was becoming prominent. It would not do to have the other demons on board staring because of their heightened olfactory senses.

Damn, he was becoming soft in his old age.

"Priestess," He intoned, waiting for the woman to wipe her eyes and look up at him. The smoky blue orbs were rimmed with red and moisture, ready to spill over. Sesshomaru reached over hesitantly, hand hovering momentarily before reaching over to remove the fragile remnants of the Kleenex from her small hands. He then pulled a soft looking cloth from the inside of his sport coat and offered it to her silently. When she took it with a puzzled expression, he quickly turned to look out of the aircraft's window, expression blank as usual.

Kagome was shocked at his offering. Was that an actual caring gesture from Inuyasha's enemy? Fingering the velvet softness of the cloth, she figured that the term enemy was perhaps incorrect after so much time. Upon further study of the cloth, she noticed the looping red Ray-Ban logo in a corner of it. He had given her his glasses cleaning cloth? That was…nice.

The mental image of the demon in his feudal area regalia with a pair of glasses finishing the look was funny, indeed.

"You wear glasses?" She asked, incredulous. Surely they were for sunglasses, because she couldn't imagine him with such a weakness. She looked over at the demon, who was still gazing out of the thick window.

"A recent development," he replied in almost a murmur. "For reading, mainly." It was obvious that he was not pleased by this show of weakness. It was so strange to hear that he had such a common ailment. For some reason it made Sesshomaru seem more…on Kagome's level. With a pang, she realized that this Sesshomaru was five centuries older than the one she remembered from the past. He was aging, although it was barely visible. She turned her eyes upon him, studying his profile intently. There, in the corner of his eye, she noticed them- the subtle beginnings of wrinkles. Not even he was unscathed by time. This train of thought led to another realization.

"You're the only one left who remembers." She said softly. He turned to acknowledge her then, eyes smoldering regardless of their cold color. Kagome felt her stomach drop to the floor at their intensity.

"No."

She looked at him for a moment. "Who else?" She all but demanded, sitting up straighter.

"Jaken." He replied, the barest of smirks crossing his face. Sesshomaru decided that he would try his hand at teasing.

"Just Jaken? How could that stupid toad be the only one left besides you?" The teasing was not successful, apparently, and only served to anger the woman. "What about Kouga? Shippo? Who else?" Kagome was leaning over the armrest now, tears gone and her blue eyes trained on his disguised ones.

He supposed that he would have to indulge her to regain his personal space.

"I believe that the wolf prince is currently residing in the United States as a NASCAR driver." Sesshomaru watched Kagome's expression change again as she leaned back into her own seat, something he was beginning to enjoy.

"Are you being serious?"

A deadpan look and a slightly raised left eyebrow were the only answers she received.

"Of course he's being serious," she thought, although that earlier comment about Jaken confused her. It sounded an awful lot like teasing, but was it? Kagome conceded that the demon probably did have an extremely dry sense of humor buried deep down somewhere, but it was extremely hard to tell whether or not he was joking. Kouga was evidently a NASCAR driver. She was sure that he also enjoyed camouflage and American fast food as well. "I guess that suits him…but doesn't he have responsibility at home?" Sesshomaru had still called him a prince, after all.

"The wolf is no longer tied down by the responsibility of maintaining a territory, if that is your question," He replied. "Most ancestral grounds belonging to demons are substantially smaller than before or no longer exist."

Kagome nodded in understanding, secretly glad that Kouga no longer preferred caves. "What about the Western Lands? Do you still own them?"

"I own the most important lands that have stayed within my clan for millennia, including my most permanent residence, but my territory is considerably shrunken." The demon lord said this with an air of nonchalance. "I had no need for the rest of the land and instead focused my resources on expanding globally. I now own territory in every continent, including Antarctica."

It took Kagome a few moments to recover from Sesshomaru's little speech. It had been the most she had ever heard him utter at once. Then she realized what he had said. "_Antarctica?_" She asked incredulously, jaw threatening to drop. "Why on earth do you own part of Antarctica?" To her surprise, his lips tilted upward in an actual smile. It was small, but it was definitely there.

"You know of the American superhero, Superman, yes?" At her mildly confused nod, he continued, "Consider my holdings in Antarctica my own 'Fortress of Solitude'. I am not bothered by the cold as humans are, which makes the location ideal in terms of human population."

"So you own a vacation home. In Antarctica." Sarcastically, she asked, "Will you be spending time with the penguins when the plane –" Kagome made some quote symbols with her fingers. "Crashes?"

"Perhaps." He answered, sipping his drink once again. Her question did have merit, however. Sesshomaru had not actually decided where he would be taking the human. Antarctica would not be on the list of considerations for obvious reasons. Europe was promising, although his original plan had been to return to the states for some time. He did enjoy the northwest wilderness immensely. Looking out the window again, he quickly made his plans. The fox was waiting in Seattle. Therefore, they would travel there first and make further arrangements upon arriving.

While Sesshomaru thought, Kagome sighed and stretched out slightly, relaxing in the seat. So it was back to one-word answers. She supposed one paragraph was his daily limit. Then she remembered her previous train of thought.

"Do you know anything about Shippo?" She asked him, hoping against hope that he knew her adopted kit from the past. Sesshomaru turned from the window and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the scratchy voice of the captain over the intercom.

"Attention, passengers. We have nearly reached our destination. Please be sure to reread the pamphlet provided with your ticket that covers proper exit procedure. Thank you." With that, Kagome leaned over Sesshomaru to look out the window.

"We're in the middle of the Pacific." She looked up at him, panic written across her face. "We aren't actually…crashing the plane, are we?"

"I would advise that you remove any valuables from your luggage at this moment, because you will be leaving everything else behind, Priestess." With that said, Kagome hurried to collect what little items of value she had from her tiny suitcase, a feeling of foreboding settling icily in the pit of her stomach.

So wow, it was pointed out to me that when I loaded this chapter, no quotation marks and no apostrophes were in it. Very weird. But i fixed it!


	6. The Crash

Sorry for the long wait! It took me forever to write this chapter, especially the fun part at the end. It also proved very difficult to get this to at least 2000 words long. I think in terms of writing I am more of a sprinter than a marathon runner.

Chapter 6

The Crash

Years of trekking the Feudal countryside taught Kagome valuable lessons about packing. Her suitcase held only the essentials and a few souvenirs she planned to bring home eventually. It took no time at all for her to retrieve her cell phone, house keys, and her wallet and make her way back to her seat beside Sesshomaru.

"You didn't answer my question before," she began as she plopped down into the leather seat, blue eyes pleading. "Please tell me we aren't actually crashing the plane." Just imagining the horror of a crashing aircraft was enough for her chest to constrict with fear, and she was positive that the movies didn't do it justice. She remembered seeing some film with a spectacularly violent plane crash shortly before her first flight and how absolutely paranoid it had made her, especially during turbulence.

"The humans will undoubtedly want to view the wreckage on their news channels for the next month. You would deny them that pleasure?" He asked, humor sparking in his eyes.

"Absolutely!" Kagome exclaimed. "I don't want to be some…statistic on a news story!" She hadn't thought of it that way before. Would her family read her name on an impersonal list of the deceased?

"There is something anonymous about becoming a statisic," Sesshomaru informed her. "I have expired privately enough times to know that there is less…drama involved." At the slightly dumfounded look on the girl's face, the demon lord chose to elaborate. "For instance, it is harder to accuse someone of faking their death when that person perished with hundreds of other people."

It was understandable, at least, why there was a need for the Phoenix Flight. It brought to mind more questions about the existence of demons in her time. There was so much she didn't know and perhaps never would. But there were more important things to think about at the moment. Such as whether or not Kagome would be careening towards her doom in the near future.

"You haven't given me a real answer yet!" the priestess leaned closer to him, grasping his wrist, much to Sesshomaru's surprise. "Are we really crashing this plane?" She asked desperately, panic giving completely over to fear. As the acrid scent washed over Sesshomaru, he felt himself suppressing the need to wrinkle his nose and sneeze. Was there an answer he could give her than would not cause a scene?

"Yes, the plane will crash." Sesshomaru said to her, making sure it was in a quiet and firm voice. He had been dealing with female human secretaries for many years, and as such he well understood the human habit of blowing everything out of proportion. The plane crashing was a fact, and there was no amount of hysterics that would halt that process. The inevitable was apparently not enough for the woman, due to the fact that hyperventilation and tears appeared almost immediately.

"How on earth am I supposed to survive a plane crash?" She cried. "I'm human!" Immediately Kagome's mind jumped to Amaya's unsure reply about what was going to happen to her, the first human ever on the Phoenix Flight. Were they just going to allow her to die in the crash? The dog demon beside her simply gave her another deadpan look after what she swore was a roll of the eyes.

"Do you think that I would do something as dishonorable as allow the keeper of the Shikon to expire?" Sesshomaru asked her, watching her expression as it changed from hysterical to a more resigned apprehension. It was obvious that the woman was not expecting that sentence to come from him. She looked down at the bauble hanging from her neck.

"I guess this thing does have its uses," she muttered darkly, words dripping with sarcasm. "I was beginning to think that I was cursed with it." Sesshomaru merely gave her a grim smirk in agreement. It was at this point that Amaya returned once again.

"How are you doing?" She asked, Kagome, giving her a once over. "Better?" The water demon seemed breathless with excitement, her mood significantly happier and less stressed than her last visit. Kagome realized that she was still holding Sesshomaru's arm in a death grip and removed it promptly, settling for a crossing of the arms.

"I've been assured that I won't die, at least." Kagome said savagely, angry at Amaya's sudden mood lift. It seemed that Kagome's attitude was doing little to dampen her coworker's spirits, however, which caused the priestess to furrow her delicate brows. Amaya was about to be in an _airplane _crash and was grinning like a loon.

"So Sesshomaru-sama, you are offering your protection?" Amaya asked politely, gauging the powerful demon's reaction. Not to anyone's surprise, Sesshomaru graced the water nymph with little more than a nod. "You have my appreciation," she said him, brightening even more before straightening up. "And you will be fine." Amaya lay a hand on Kagome's tensing shoulder, trying to reassure her. "Try to have fun!"

"…Fun?" Kagome asked blankly, watching Amaya's retreating back. "Did she just tell me to have fun?" Uncrossing her arms, she began wringing her hands again, looking once more to Sesshomaru for answers.

"It is enjoyable." The demon lord said simply, enjoying her expression of shock. It was, in fact, much like a demon equivalent of a roller coaster. Without the screaming and the horrible sound of moving mechanical parts, of course.

"Enjoyable like a massage? Or enjoyable like sky diving?" Kagome was desperate for some clarification, and Sesshomaru was stubbornly sticking to answers with as few words in them as possible. The fact that he did enjoy this activity helped reduce the anxiety she felt over it., though.

"You will see." He told her, speaking in a tone that made the priestess realize that she would not be receiving any more information on the subject. She sighed for what felt like the thousandth time, trying to relax. She was fairly sure of her survival at this point. After what seemed like an eternity of awkward silence, Youko's voice came on through the speaker system.

"We have arrived at the point of descent. Please secure any valuables as we prepare to take the dive into the ocean. Concierge will be awaiting our arrival at the point of impact. Thank you for flying AirJapan." The intercom went off with a click.

Kagome couldn't help but laugh. The whole thing sounded so mundane, especially with Youko saying it. She was fairly certain that in a contest of stoicism, the pilot could give Sesshomaru a run for his money. The straightforward explanation of the plane crash did, however, did help her relax by answering several questions that had been plaguing her for several hours. Questions that a certain dog demon was not doing a great job of answering.

That fact that Sesshomaru couldn't even grace her with a paragraph of exposition was irritating. She had to drag answers out of him, sentence by sentence. And she was lucky if a sentence uttered from his lips lasted longer than three words. The fact that Sesshomaru was a man of few words was not surprising. He clearly let his actions speak for him in the past, and Kagome didn't really expect that to change. Males rarely did, she imagined, even after five hundred years. That was why she shouldn't have been surprised to feel a strong arm snake around her waist, or let out a squeak of protest and begin squirming when Sesshomaru lifted her effortlessly and deposited her into his lap.

"What are you -!" Her words were cut short by his warm breath settling by her ear and additional slight dip of the plane.

"Settle yourself, woman. This will make our escape easier."

Once she was over her shock of the great dog lord actually touching her, his words settled into her brain.

"Fine," she grumbled. "But I do have a name, you know." What was it with demon men and the use of her proper name?

"I do not know it," was his simple reply. The plane was definitely leaning forward now, and they were picking up speed. All at once, the demons on board began flaring their auras in preparation for the touch down. Kagome, who was trying to figure out how on earth Sesshomaru didn't know her name (given the amount of times Inuyasha shouted it during battle), felt another wave of dizziness and nausea not unlike the time before when she had been greeting the passengers.

"It's Kagome," she whimpered, slumping ungracefully against Sesshomaru. The cabin was spinning again; she shut her eyes in hopes that the vertigo would leave her before she did something unpleasant on the dog demon's extremely nice suit. The fact that the plane was falling even faster from the sky at this point wasn't helping either.

"Hand me your belongings," Sesshomaru commanded. Without waiting for her to reply, he reached over and retrieved them from her clenched fists, Kagome's strength being no match for his. After stowing her things securely in his computer bag with one hand while he steadied the priestess with the other, Sesshomaru threw the strap of the bag over his shoulder. With a better hold on the woman, he flared his own aura impressively to prepare his orb of energy for impact.

All Kagome felt was a flash of pain, accompanied by a sighting of several stars. She went completely limp then, Sesshomaru's additional energy knocking her out completely. The dog demon felt the strange guilty flutter in his chest once again, but did admit to himself that it would be much easier to handle an unconscious woman than a panicking one. A quick glance out of the window on his part revealed that the ocean was growing closer by the second. Relishing in the feeling of adrenaline rushing through his veins, Sesshomaru waited until the very last possible moment before forming his energy orb.

At first the impact was an incredibly jarring bump, then another as the plane skimmed several hundred feet on its belly. Sesshomaru braced himself on the seat, barely having time to feel disappointment before the left wing of the plane caught in the water, wrenching the entire eight hundred thousand pound structure upside down in mere seconds. The overhead bins, not designed to withstand stress of that caliber, flew open, showering the passengers with carry on baggage, pillows, and blankets. Sesshomaru took the corner of one particularly large suitcase in the eye as he shielded the priestess from harm. There was a horrific screech from below them, and without warning he found himself looking down from his seat at the clear blue sky. In addition to drowning out every other noise in the vicinity, the scream of the turbines as they hit the salt water would have sent any other dog demon to their knees in pain, but Sesshomaru merely let out a small wince. Swiftly, he cut his seatbelt with a claw, forming his orb before the water and debris being sucked up by the turbines caused them to explode.

Glancing behind them at the wreckage, Sesshomaru allowed himself a smirk before catching sight of the gleaming white concierge ship. They would travel to an island to get their new identities in order, then travel by his own yacht to the west coast of the United States. Kagome, still unconscious, was gathered into the hold of one of his arms as the demon lord reached up with a free hand to feel his eye. To his irritation, he realized that the area around it was swollen and bruised from that ridiculous suitcase. He did take a moment to assess the girl's state of wellbeing after that, and was pleased to find that his protection was indeed perfection. Diminishing his energy sphere, Sesshomaru touched down gently on the polished wooden deck of the ship. Another death managed.


	7. Proposition

So I feel pretty terrible for leaving you guys waiting for almost a year, but what can you do with a truckload of studio work to do? I wish this were longer.

Chapter 7

The first thing Kagome noticed when she woke up was the quiet. She could no longer hear any screaming engines. Also missing was the presence of a certain dog demon. She sat up in a rush, a headache blooming behind her eyes at the action. She was in a bed; that much was certain, and the soft light in the room felt painfully bright.

"Ouch," She muttered, rubbing her forehead with her fingertips. As she blinked owlishly at her surroundings, it occurred to the priestess that perhaps she was in the cabin of a ship. Sunlight filtered in through a porthole, and the only thing she could see out of it from her position was a clear sky. Regardless of where she was, Kagome was immensely relieved that she was no longer inside a crashing airplane. Maybe being rendered unconscious by overwhelming demonic auras wasn't such a disservice after all.

Someone had kindly removed her heels; they were placed side by side next to the door. Kagome threw the blanket over her aside and stood, trying in vain to smooth her extremely wrinkled blouse and skirt. There was a run in her hose as well, which made her grimace with annoyance. Pantyhose were her sworn enemy and Kagome was happy for a reason to remove them, which she did as she peered out of the nearest porthole. Unsurprisingly, the only thing within sight was ocean. She looked out over the waves for any evidence of wreckage and found nothing, which caused Kagome to wonder vaguely about how long she had been out, The only person who could answer that inquiry for her was Sesshomaru, so the woman slid into her heels and exited via the heavy cabin door.

Much to her dismay, outside of the door was a long white hallway that stretched in both directions. It would take her forever to find Sesshomaru by sight. Her only alternative was to locate him by aura. It had been so long since she had tried to locate anyone in that manner; so long that Kagome wasn't entirely sure that she would actually recognize Sesshomaru's energy if she did feel it. However, she was fairly sure that the dog demon had the most powerful aura in the vicinity, so she focused on strength rather than identity when she reached out with her priestess energy.

Kagome was still standing in the hall with her eyes screwed shut in concentration when the object of her search walked up casually behind her, carrying a glass of water and a package of aspirin.

Sesshomaru realized what she was attempting after a few seconds, wondering why she didn't recognize his energy. Normally he would have alerted the woman to his presence by a cough or the clearing of the throat, but there was a strange streak of deviousness that had found its way into him that he wasn't sure that he welcomed. He had no idea what had possessed him to brush his aura suddenly against hers, but it sent a warm tingling feeling from the tips of his ears to the soles of his feet. Caught completely off guard by this, Sesshomaru's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly. Additionally, Kagome jumped and whirled to face him with a hand over her chest.

"You scared me!" She gasped, stepping back a bit when she noticed their close vicinity. Sesshomaru shut his mouth and wordlessly offered her the medication, which she accepted, taking in his appearance for a moment before tilting her head back to down the pills. Chasing them with water, she viewed his silver hair and golden eyes, as well as the markings that had always been present on his face. It was soothing to see him in the way she most remembered, sans the traditional garb that he had traded for the suit. Kagome also noticed that he was as immaculate as he had always been: there was nothing there to indicate that he had just been plummeting thousands of feet from the sky in a large metal tube. Then she studied his face, squinting in disbelief. "Is that an actual _black eye_?"

The dog demon supposed he understood her awe at his injury. Had any lesser being taken a suitcase directly to the eye socket in a plane crash, the outcome would have been decidedly more gruesome. At any rate, the black eye distracted the woman long enough that he was able to will the emotions off of his face before she took notice.

"Yes," He replied stiffly, slightly irritated that he had any visible injuries at all. "It will be gone by tomorrow." Kagome then asked the question that Sesshomaru desperately hoped that she wouldn't.

"How did it happen?"

It was likely that she wouldn't be too impressed to hear that a suitcase had done the deed, so Sesshomaru quickly racked his brain for an alternative that was less embarrassing. He quite purposely didn't think about why he felt the need to impress Inuyasha's old flame and answered after a brief pause.

"I believe it was some wreckage," he answered, adding, "I was a bit preoccupied to know for sure." His now golden gaze boring into her made Kagome realize what she had rudely forgotten to do.

"Thank you for saving me…and for the aspirin," she said quickly, a small smile appearing on her lips. "I hope I didn't dampen your…fun." She watched as Sesshomaru merely shrugged.

"I will more than likely be repeating it sometime in the future." An awkward silence followed, both of them standing some feet apart in the hallway. Kagome began fidgeting with her wrinkled blouse. Eventually, it was Sesshomaru who took a step back and started walking in the direction of the deck. "Come."

Kagome had no choice but to follow, or else be stuck in the seemingly endless passageway. She ducked back into the cabin to set the glass of water down and hurried after him, finding it necessary to jog since Sesshomaru had huge strides. She was still fairly confused about what was happening and hoped that they were heading towards answers…or at least some food. The last thing Kagome remembered eating was a filched packet of peanuts at least an hour before the flight. Her stomach twisted and growled as if in agreement, a sound that had the dog demon in front of her smirking. How fortuitous that he was leading her in the direction of the ship restaurant.

The eatery was small and buffet style, but the smells rising from the pans of food prepared in mass were delectable. Kagome's mouth began to water immediately and she took a step toward the buffet, halting when she felt Sesshomaru's hand encircle her wrist in a firm, painless grip. When she looked up at him for an explanation, she was unsurprised to receive none as he pulled her to a table located in a less crowded part of the dining room.

"What-" she began, but Sesshomaru's low murmur interrupted her.

"You could very well be the first human on this ship. It would be unwise to draw attention to the fact that you are aboard."

Kagome nodded, understanding instantly. Sesshomaru released her wrist as he stood.

"I will return momentarily." With that, the dog demon strode to the buffet. Kagome watched curiously as he picked through the available food with a highly concentrated expression. With his pursed lips and furrowed brow, Sesshomaru strongly reminded her of Buyo, the family cat. Whenever she had attempted to give the animal something besides table scraps, the cat would turn his nose up and march away, far too picky to eat dry cat food. It was obvious that whatever was being served was not on any menu Sesshomaru frequented. Looking resigned, he returned to the table, setting before her a simple plate of rice, complete with vegetables on the side. A glass of water soon followed, as well as a pair of chopsticks. Kagome looked at the plate for a moment, noting that everything upon it was placed with sufficient space to avoid mixing. Was that in case she didn't care for a particular vegetable? She sat back, looking back up at his impassive face.

"Thank you," She said sincerely, touched that he had actually taken the time to prepare the plate for her in such a manner.

"You are welcome," Sesshomaru replied, taking a seat across from her. He watched as she began to eat; it was obvious that the girl had been starving. It was slightly amusing to watch her attempts to remain ladylike and inhale her food at the same time. The dog demon leaned back in his seat, sipping his own drink, which was a rather potent demon wine. It was time for some serious contemplation.

He was not sure how to smuggle the girl past the authorities. Granted, he himself was typically left to his own devices once upon the island, but since she was possibly the only human to be present during a Phoenix arranged event, he could not see her simply melting into the background. Phoenix Corp was a very powerful corporate entity with connections in nearly every government as well as tabs on every demon. It would be extremely embarrassing to the corporation if it were discovered that they had overlooked a slip of a human woman during one of their most important ventures. Sesshomaru hoped that he could bring the girl along unharmed without revealing her importance. Allowing the most influential operation in the world to learn that the Shikon Jewel was still in existence would be opening a rather dangerous can of worms.

Suddenly it came to him. He could utilize his clout as one of the world's most powerful demons in one way to force the corporation to overlook her humanity. A mating contract. A part of him immediately blanched, understanding the implications of such an act. They would want to know that he was serious, which would require some serious paperwork and one hell of an acting job. The demon looked down into the deep red liquid in his glass. He needed more. Immediately.

Finally setting her chopsticks down, Kagome watched in curiosity as Sesshomaru threw his head back, downing the remaining wine in his glass. Without looking, he slid his empty glass out directly in front of a waitress passing by with a bottle of the same wine, ignoring her startled squeak as she glared at him and replenished his beverage. He took a deep draft from his refill before eyeing Kagome seriously.

Taking a breath, he spoke, "Priestess. I have decided that the best way to go about hiding you from the authorities is to masquerade as a betrothed couple." He said this quite bluntly. It would be ideal for her to come to terms with his plan in the noisy dining room, where they were less likely to be overheard.

"Wh-What?" She sputtered, her mouth falling open. "You cannot be serious."

The dog demon raised a silvery brow. "I am always serious."

"I must be out of my mind, then," Kagome stated matter-of-factly. She placed her utensils on her now spotless plate. "Because I'm positive that what just came out of your mouth is something you would never say." She flicked her dark ponytail over her shoulder, watching him expectantly through hooded lashes. Any minute now he would narrow his eyes at her and inform her that she was mistaken.

Sure enough, the demon lord's sun-kissed eyes narrowed. "You would leave your survival in the hands of a corporation that will stop at nothing to keep the demon population a secret?"

"Well…no," She faltered in her adamant denial. Her delicate brows came together in worry as her hands disappeared underneath the table, presumably be wrung in her lap. "But…you don't even like me."

"I do not even know you. I saw you on a handful of occasions and spoke to you even less."

"On half of those occasions you tried to kill me." Kagome pointed out. "Take that time when I pulled Tetsusaiga out, for example. You tried to melt me!"

Nearly exasperated, Sesshomaru fought valiantly against the urge to roll his eyes. "That is beside the point. You require my assistance to escape this circumstance alive, and I am being gracious enough to collaborate with you."

A dark eyebrow rose at this, becoming obscured by thick bangs. "You're being gracious? I thought that you were being honorable." At this point, any normal person would have backed off at Sesshomaru's darkening expression, but Kagome wasn't a normal person by any means. And she was feeling reckless. "Well, I'm sorry I inconvenienced you by being placed in this situation, since I planned it this way and everything. I love to be caught up in situations I don't belong-" a low but ferocious growl cut her off.

Sesshomaru's facial expressions were carefully schooled into one of indifference, but his eyes were hard as steel. "I could leave you here if that is your wish.," he stated coldly. "I'm sure that the panel would enjoy hearing your story of woe and betrayal." Sarcasm dripped heavily from each word before his tone became hard and final. "You have no other options, and I would rather present you to the panel _conscious_."

Scowling, Kagome realized that he was right. "Fine," she ground out. "But I don't have to be happy about it." To be honest, Kagome had no idea why she felt the need to fight him on this. She supposed that it made her feel slightly in control of the whole situation. She wasn't that teenager who just let things happen to her anymore. She was a person, dammit! With her own free will! Crossing her arms, she looked challengingly at Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru, for his part, was through arguing over stupid things. He did that enough with his mother, who, much to his displeasure, was still alive and kicking. The old bat (an inaccurate description of his seemingly ageless parent) was enjoying the luxury life in New York City. She called often, usually to voice her dissatisfaction with something or other, which in turn led to asinine disagreement. These always led to a migraine, and Sesshomaru was in no mood for one. He stood abruptly, leveling a glare at the ungrateful woman, and swept from the room.

Kagome watched him storm out, the fight leaving her completely. She got up immediately to follow him, but was barred by an official looking demon in a dark uniform. It was obvious by his expression that she was in trouble.

"Miss, would you be so kind as to come with me?"

Her mouth went dry, and she swallowed hard. "Actually, I need to go find my companion. But I'd be happy to come with you after that." The demon reached for her elbow and seized it with a grip like steel, much to Kagome's dismay.

"I think you misunderstood the nature of my question. It is not so much a request as it is an order." He started to drag her out of the room, down a hall opposite of where Sesshomaru had gone. Kagome began to panic, reaching out for Sesshomaru with her priestess energy. She hoped that she hadn't peed in her chili when it came to his assistance.

The demon in uniform pulled her to a heavy white door a few doors down from the dining room, opened it easily with one hand, and steered Kagome inside. With mild horror, she realized that it was an interrogation room, and this matter was absolutely going to be about her species. She was shoved into an uncomfortable seat. The demon sneered at her before exiting the room with a heavy clang from the door. The sound of the lock being turned caused the bottom to drop from her stomach. She was most definitely in trouble, and she had brought it upon herself.


	8. Interrogation?

Thank you so much for your reviews! I'm almost at 10,000 reads (Dokuga), which is fantastic! So fantastic, in fact, that I was able to write a second chapter!

Enjoy!

Chapter 8

Sesshomaru was halfway to his cabin when he felt her energy brush against him. It was panicked and run through with apprehension, which caused him to turn abruptly on his heel and head back towards the dining room. He cursed himself for allowing his temper to get the better of him. He knew better than to leave her unprotected. Walking away in irritation was something more characteristic of his days living through the Feudal Era, back when he fought Inuyasha for Tetsusaiga. He liked to think that he had outgrown such ridiculous antics. Perhaps it was the presence of the priestess. He was feeling a bit like his younger self; less bored, less tired. However, that could also be the alcohol in his system. He had consumed quite a bit more than his usual.

Taking a moment to scan the restaurant for her, he decided that his nose would likely find her faster. The woman's scent led him through the double doors on the other end of the room, where he focused on a demon in uniform standing outside of one of the many doors lining the hall. Her scent took Sesshomaru directly before the guard.

"Excuse me, but you seem to have incarcerated my fiancée." The lie slid off of his tongue with such ease that even he was concerned with how convincing it sounded.

"The little human belongs to you, does it?" The demon before the door leered at him. Sesshomaru stepped closer, towering over the smaller jackal demon as well as releasing some of his powerful aura. The jackal grinned, not intimidated in the least. "Seeing as though you opted not to alert anyone about the presence of the human, I am going to ask you to step aside until the security head is through with her. Surely there isn't any harm in that." His greenish gold eyes glittered as he smirked. "Of course, after he sits down with you and your answers don't match, there may be harm involved."

Sesshomaru growled menacingly. "There will be no problem." The jackal then directed him to a place where he could wait for her, but the dog demon opted to remain standing by the door with his arms crossed. Although he appeared calm and collected, albeit a bit ominous, Sesshomaru's mind was running quickly through contingency plans. There was no way that the woman could give security the right information. A fact that was slightly relieving to him was that she was intelligent enough not to tell the truth. He would have to wait and see if she was a convincing liar.

Kagome was in a fabulous cold sweat. She couldn't wait to shower and burn her clothes. One of her heels was rubbing her ankle the wrong way, and she knew a blister was in her future. Being stuck in a painfully bright room with nothing inside but some sparse furniture in it was turning her into the worst kind of bitch. Additionally, she had no idea what to say to the head of security sitting before her in his white uniform. He was arranging his papers slowly, a tactic she recognized. They were trying to make her crack with impatience before he had to ask a single question. There would be none of that this afternoon. Kagome knew that she would have to make the first move. She decided to pull the classic womanly trick: tears, paired with a naive disposition. She usually had a bit of difficulty making herself cry, but didn't take much effort today, considering the day she'd had.

Sniffing loudly, Kagome began crying silently. "Sir…i-is this about the package of peanuts I stole from the plane? Because I'm really sorry."

The owl demon just looked up from his paper, seemingly mystified. "No ma'am, the plane is a completely irrelevant matter."

Raising her sleeve to wipe at her tears, she asked in a pitiful voice, "Can you tell me please what this is about? You're probably making my fiancé extremely upset…and we'll have a horrible time if he's in a bad mood."

"A horrible time doing what, exactly?" There it was. The first question. Kagome was glad that the years of cramming for exams caused her short-term memory to be quite good. She could pick parts from the few things she had gleaned from Amaya and Sesshomaru about this whole situation.

"We're supposed to be mated, and then we're going on our honeymoon." She sniffled again, making a show of ducking her head and showing off her tear soaked eyelashes. "Sess wanted us to begin a whole new life together, so we went on the plane first." Vaguely, she wondered if anyone who had actually called the dog demon by that nickname to his face survived.

"You were together on the plane?" He asked, glancing quickly down at what Kagome deduced to be a list of passengers. She sniffed again for good measure before continuing.

"Well, no…I'm actually a flight attendant. That's how we met, you know. He travels so much. That's why this was perfect." Her tear glazed eyes probably looked dreamy now. At least, that was what Kagome was hoping for.

"Why what was perfect, ma'am?"

"This whole Phoenix Flight thing. Sess explained it to me, and it was perfect for everything. I mean, my mother expected this whole fancy, expensive, and traditional wedding, but I know that's not how demons prefer to do it." She paused to start playing with her hair. "And, well, I had to separate from my family, Sess being a demon and all. I was raised on a shrine, and my grandpa is a practicing Shinto priest. It wouldn't have been good. The flight was just conveniently…there." It wasn't difficult at all this time to call some more tears up. She _was_ parting with her family, and it hurt more than anything.

"Your fiancé didn't think to alert those in command about the matter of bringing you aboard?" The owl's voice was more sympathetic, but Kagome didn't allow herself to celebrate victory yet. This question was the important one. She couldn't afford to miss.

Taking in what she hoped the demon saw as an upset hiccup, she explained, "He did think about it, but it came up so suddenly. We would have missed it dealing with all of the paperwork. I mean, no human has participated in this, right? Getting in was bound to take awhile…so…I talked one of my coworkers out of flying that day and took her place." More tears welled up. "I'm really, really sorry, I didn't think it would cause any harm…." With that, Kagome dissolved into sobs, finding it easy to continue once she started bringing her frustration from her recent experiences forward in her mind. She could literally feel how awkward she was making her questioner feel. Apparently, like Inuyasha, male demons of any kind could not handle female tears.

After a minute or so of tense silence on the owl's part, Kagome cheered mentally when he patted her back haltingly. "There, there. You are right. There is no harm done. Why don't you sit here while I fetch your fiancé? We'll see if we can't get this whole situation smoothed out." With that, the demon quit the room momentarily, returning within seconds with a very stony-faced dog demon.

Sesshomaru watched the girl intently, taking in her fresh tears and red face. He started summoning his poison to where it was right beneath the skin, itching to spray past his fingertips. Their exit could be decidedly nasty if the priestess's facial expression was any indication. To say he was shocked would be an understatement when, as he sat, he found her arms around his waist and her wet face buried in his shirt.

"I'm so sorry, darling!" She cried, sounding muffled by the fabric. "I've ruined our honeymoon with my _humanity_!" After that, Sesshomaru went from perplexed to highly amused as everything clicked into place. Playing along, he rubbed small circles on the small of her back as he pulled her closer, expression darkening.

"You will explain why my fiancée has shed tears on what should be a very joyous occasion, Owl." He watched in heavily disguised amazement as the security head offered his apologies, then sat at the table once more. Kagome hid a gasp in Sesshomaru's side as the vibrations from his deep and growling voice made goose bumps travel up and down her body.

"I just have a few more questions for you, and we'll be letting you both enjoy your holiday." The owl shuffled his papers again, this time in preparation to leave. "You didn't have any other way to "start over", Sesshomaru-sama? I have it on good authority that you own your own jet. Was it necessary to bring a human on the Phoenix Flight, illegally, no less?"

"Ironically, my jet was grounded due to a problem with the electrical system. By the time the problem occurred, it was too late to inform the authorities of my plans," He answered smoothly, becoming largely distracted with the warmth that he could feel through Kagome's shirt. He could tell by the way that his fingers moved that her skin was smooth as silk beneath the fabric. He was so distracted, in fact, that he missed the second question.

"Pardon?" he asked, slightly embarrassed as he removed his hand from her person.

"I just asked if it was true that you were able to pass for fifty during your last venture. Most could not hope to pull off twenty five years in the same place."

Relaxing a great deal, the demon lord answered, "Fifty-one. I told _her _I was thirty." The owl chuckled and Kagome contributed a girlish giggle as she pulled back from him. Wiping remaining tears away with a sleeve, she straightened.

"So we aren't in trouble?" she asked, pleased beyond belief at herself but still afraid to show it.

"Not this time, although I do ask that you go through the proper channels next time," the officer admonished. "And you will also need this." He handed Kagome a green plastic card from his coat pocket, which she studied as she took it. "That is an entrance card. Your fiancé will have received his already, but I have an extra that you can use."

"Thank you very much, sir. I promise we won't do this again." She said, gifting him with a smile and pocketing the card. With that, everyone stood.

"You have found yourself a very genuine and sincere woman, Sesshomaru-sama," the owl added on the way out. "Good luck with your new lives."

The pair headed down the hall at a pace that was a bit more than brisk, heading through the dining hall and pack to Kagome's room. Once inside, Sesshomaru moved to face her, only to watch as she collapsed into raucous laughter, tears running down her already mascara stained face.

"That was ridiculous!" she gasped, falling backwards onto the bed. "He just ate everything up! Genuine and sincere, he said!" her laughter eventually quieted to the point that she noticed Sesshomaru still standing before her with a vague look of astonishment.

It took him a moment to find his words. "That was…extremely…startling."

"I amazed myself. I can't believe I was able to pull it off. I was scared out of my mind." Kagome grinned, then watched as Sesshomaru sobered.

"I felt…that I should not have left you in my anger. It was good that you could handle the situation." He seemed as though he wanted to say something else, then stopped. Kagome realized that this was as close to apology as she was going to get with him. She slid off of the bed and held out a hand.

"Don't worry about it, Sesshomaru. It was my fault for being stubborn and we nearly got in some serious trouble because of it. Your plan is good, and I promise I'll cooperate."

In reply, Sesshomaru offered his own hand, which she shook. Perhaps this wouldn't be the dreaded deal he thought it was going to be. Ridiculous as the clever woman was, she had, in that moment, earned his respect.


	9. Calm Before the Storm

AN: So, for this chapter, I tried to go for more dialogue and a bit of a lighter mood. Hopefully I'll be able to get the next installment in without months and months of procrastination! Enjoy!

The last few hours on the ship went by without provocation. Kagome received her long awaited shower, while Sesshomaru got to work on another bottle of wine. Swirling the drink gently within his glass, the dog demon watched the seemingly endless horizon line from the window, settled in a nearby chair.

Kagome found him in that position several minutes later, as she emerged from the bathroom swaddled in a plush bathrobe. It was a welcome change from her stewardess uniform, which lay crumpled and forgotten on the floor beside the shower stall. Kagome planned to leave it there until the latest possible moment, when she would have to put it on again. For now, she relished in the clean feel of the terrycloth, falling face first into the soft bed. After a few moments of breathing in the scent of fresh laundry, she rolled over and curled on her side to continue watching the dog demon by the window.

Sesshomaru's heavily lidded eyes seemed to glow as they took in the fading light. The sun had set moments before, casting a slight glow on his face. He looked relaxed, Kagome decided, but run through with melancholy. She wondered what he was thinking.

"So..." she began, breaking the silence, which caused the demon to turn his head and regard her. Her eyes were cast down, gazing at the subtle embroidery on the coverlet, which stood out starkly against the strands of drying hair framing her face…and the slight swell of her breast visible through the lapels of the robe. Sesshomaru swallowed, and quickly shifted his gaze to the glassware in his hand.

"I was hoping that you would be able to answer some of my questions." She took the hint to go ahead after his nod in the affirmative, unaware that her traveling companion had suddenly lost the ability to speak after viewing her unconscious display.

"I'm still in the dark about how this is going to work. You mentioned that we'll have to go through questioning again?" It was very hard to appear like she wasn't desperate for information, but she managed it, just like Sesshomaru managed to find his voice to answer her.

"After we disembark, it is more than likely that we will be called in for questioning at the hands of a panel of demons." Sesshomaru reclined in his chair, bringing his glass to his lips before continuing, "After your…performance, I am confident that the interrogation will go well."

Kagome blushed at this, not used to compliments from him at all. Who knew that it would be acting and not battle prowess that gained her some respect? Of course, the era where individual greatness was decided through battle was long gone. She suddenly realized that there was a very serious part of Sesshomaru that was no longer there, or perhaps buried very deep within. The warrior in him was no longer needed, and that fact was incredibly depressing. Now, she mused, his despondent look out at the ocean had new meaning.

She shook off those thoughts for the moment, filing them away with the intention of returning to them at a time where she didn't have burning questions about her future and welfare. "And after that?" She prompted, vaguely aware that she would be gaining a new identity, but unsure where she would be headed afterwards. If it involved changing her appearance in some drastic way, she would not be receptive to it.

"It is important that you receive new paperwork parallel with your new identity. Demons have connections in offices in many countries, making it relatively easy to insert your information into each system as if it has always been there," He explained, sounding quite bored. Kagome wasn't very surprised, considering the act of paperwork in general.

"Will we have to change our appearances?" She questioned, moving to lie on her stomach and resting her chin on her hands.

"It will be more necessary for me to do so than you," he replied, setting his glass down to pull a thin silver band from his pocket. He slid it onto his wrist, which caused his appearance to flicker a few times before settling once again on the dark haired, more human version of himself. "The illusion spell is weakening," he explained, flaring his aura out briefly. Sesshomaru's image flickered back to normal once again, and band cracked, falling to the floor. A small cloud of purple smoke began to issue from it and the bracelet slowly evaporated before her eyes.

"You can't form your own illusion?" Kagome asked, remembering his giant dog form. Wasn't his humanoid form an illusion as well?

"I have never been…patient enough to master illusionary abilities to that extent. My illusions are mediocre at best." He sniffed, looking slightly offended, but continued. "It is not in a dog demon's nature to be deceiving."

"So your two forms…?" She began, silently finishing the question, smoky eyes glimmering with curiosity.

"They are both my own, and although this form uses less energy to maintain, I am, at the basest, a beast." Another sip of the dark wine entered his mouth through chiseled lips. The alcohol was undoubtedly causing his tongue to loosen in a way that was not quite comfortable.

In the back of his mind, however, Sesshomaru wondered if it really was the alcohol that was causing him to be so forthcoming. The girl was, in fact, the only female contact in several years that he felt comfortable around. She wasn't after his money or a position in his bed, which was incredibly refreshing.

The fact that she remembered his warrior side that had long been forced into hiding was appealing as well. Jaken and the fox remembered, but his toad lackey was…ridiculous, and the kit had only been a child during that time. He cast a hard look in the girl's direction, realizing that the ache of boredom and loneliness had lessened somewhat in her presence. Was he becoming so much like a common dog that he needed companionship to function?

Watching the dog demon's slight changes in expression, it was dawning on Kagome that the dog lord was well on his way to becoming drunk, but she blanched at the thought of asking him to stop throwing wine down his throat. He was his own person, and if he wanted to get smashed, it was his decision. She highly doubted that he would take kindly to being scolded, which is what the priestess was aching to do.

He was the only thing standing between her and the authorities of the corporation. She didn't have so much confidence in her acting ability without Sesshomaru's authoritative bearing to bolster it. Maybe there was a diplomatic way to handle this.

Kagome rolled off the bed, plucking an empty wine glass from a tray sitting on the dresser.

"You've been working on that bottle for a while," she said, plopping down on the chair in front of him. "Need some help?"

Sesshomaru raised a perfect brow. "I wouldn't recommend it. It is not meant for human consumption."

The woman before him scoffed, "If it is strengthened by demonic energy, it'll be like drinking grape juice." This comment almost brought a smirk to the demon's lips, because while the wine was intensified by said energy, there was also a great deal of alcohol involved. Sesshomaru's devious streak returned in the form of a polite pouring of wine into Kagome's outstretched glass.

"By all means, then," he replied with a slight rumble of amusement. "Please…assist me."

Kagome took a quick sip, grimacing slightly. "Oh, it is strong." She affirmed, before shrugging and taking another sip. "I probably need a stiff drink, considering everything," she murmured, gazing into the plum colored liquid. After a few moments of silence, she asked, "So…will I have to learn a whole new job? Do they just put you somewhere and expect you to know how to do it, or do you get to go back to school?"

Sesshomaru took a moment to set the wine bottle down before he spoke. "Most demons are old enough to have several old occupations to return to. There is a major hold on most procreating due to the fact that the corporation cannot meet the needs of more demons. There is simply not enough room to hide. Therefore, the corporation has nothing for someone in your unique situation, perhaps aside from entry level jobs at fast food restaurants," His lip curled slightly as he continued, "and janitorial positions at office buildings."

Kagome's jaw dropped slightly. "Are you _serious_?"

"Of course. Why would a demonic organization waste their funds and connections to help a human start over? It would be almost a disservice to a being whose lifespan is so brief." He said this matter-of-factly, almost in an air one would use in talking about the weather.

"But…" She protested, looking crushed. "It wasn't even my fault. Am I going to get money or _anything_?"

"Unlikely." Sesshomaru replied flatly, feeling only a twinge of guilt at her anguished expression. He had to make coming with him look good, even if it meant bending the truth a little. He had no idea what they would do with her, but something told him that his assumption was likely correct, if not worse. There was always the possibility that the corporation would view her as a threat to their security and seek to do away with her.

Himself aside, there were quite a few other acquaintances of his that would be rather put out if something happened to the girl. It was strange; he had never understood how a human woman could come to mean so much to the group of allies who fought with him against Naraku. He had long ago thought himself immune to her charm, writing her off as just another human of many. After spending roughly twenty-four hours with her, the dog demon was preparing to rescind his assumption.

"Ugh," She grumbled, slumping down in the chair. "This sucks." She drank angrily from her glass. "And the worst part is that Aiko _knew _what she was getting me into when she called me! What kind of person does that?"

"A selfish one," Sesshomaru provided, adding, "There must have been something in her current life that she did not want to leave behind."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't have anything to leave behind in my life," Kagome said sarcastically, taking a few more sips. "But I mean, my mother didn't die of worry when I was off chasing jewel shards and being attacked by homicidal maniacs. My being dead will probably not kill her, either."

"I think you may have underestimated the strength of this wine, priestess." Sesshomaru spoke, leaning forward to deftly pluck the glass from her hands. A lock of silver hair brushed Kagome's bare leg, which was now peeking out of the plush robe. She jumped, looking up to find Sesshomaru's thin, straight nose mere centimeters from hers. "And correct me if I am wrong, but did you just refer to me as a homicidal maniac?"

"Umm," she said intelligently, trying to form a coherent answer under the combined influences of alcohol and Sesshomaru's vicinity to her. "You melted me. Sort of. So yes?" She looked into the hazy gold of his eyes and swallowed, leaning back slightly. She was surprised to find that someone with such an icy personality could smell like a pile of warm laundry. She unconsciously pulled the robe closer to her, thinking of towels fresh from the dryer. Hotel towels just didn't bring that kind of comfort. She missed the ones at home. Wait. She had just called Sesshomaru a homicidal maniac!

"If you recall," he intoned, finally reclining back into his chair, "I never killed any of you."

"No," She agreed, still a bit dazed. "No, you didn't."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Sesshomaru rose and crossed to the bathroom with the wine bottle. Kagome could hear the sounds of the beverage being emptied down the sink and grinned. Evidently Sesshomaru felt that he had consumed enough alcohol as well.

"I did try, however, so perhaps labeling me a "homicidal maniac" is not incorrect." Sesshomaru said, emerging from the bathroom. His mouth was quirked in the smallest of smirks, but Kagome noticed that the humor did not quite reach his eyes.

"I think all of us were a bit maniacal." Kagome conceded, willing the slight air of self-loathing to leave her traveling companion. "I did try to purify you." She reminded him, before smiling. "I'm glad I didn't. Who knew I'd need you to save me from a plane crash?"

"Who, indeed." The dog demon replied, moving to pick up his suit jacket. "We will be arriving at our destination in the next ten minutes. You may want to redress…unless you would like to stay in the robe?" This time there was a friendly glimmer in his ochre eyes.

"As tempting as that is," Kagome said, standing up to stretch. "I will have to go with real clothing, unfortunately." She entered the bathroom with a grimace, leaving a highly amused dog demon to wait for her.


	10. Preparations

So I'm not completely sure if I like this chapter. I was busy writing the next two chapters when I realized that there needed to be a bridge between the previous chapter and the next one. So here it is.

Kagome exited out onto the deck, lifting her chin up slightly to take in the cool night breeze. The last vestiges of sunlight peeked out from behind the mass of land before them.

Sesshomaru followed the woman to the railing as she took in the mountainous isle. The volcanic island was silhouetted against the darkening horizon, causing it to appear most ominous and threatening.

Gulping audibly, Kagome turned to Sesshomaru. "Does this lovely destination have a name?" she asked, dousing her question heavily with some sarcasm.

"Ichor." The dog demon replied blandly, occupied with retrieving a green plastic card from a side pocket of his computer bag.

"That name sounds awful." Kagome muttered. Taking a hint from her guide, she began fishing around for her own card in the surprisingly deep pocket of her very wrinkled pencil skirt.

"It is." Sesshomaru replied, watching her for a moment before handing her the card she left on the bathroom floor.

"Oh," she noticed, taking it from him with a reddened face. "I'm glad one of us is paying attention. Thanks." She sighed, knowing that the wine was a terrible, terrible idea. The time for getting drunk would be _after_ they made it through the interrogation at the hands of the panel. If they didn't escape, though, at least she got to enjoy some of life's pleasures before becoming demon food.

As if sensing her distress rising, Sesshomaru spoke up again. "The majority of the fools running the panel have parents born long after I reached adulthood. I doubt it will take much to intimidate them."

He didn't mention the other possibility. He was an older demon in comparison to most, and he knew that several members of the younger generation would try to write him off as a toothless old dog. If that occurred, many of those demons were going to be eating their words.

A small but disturbingly bloodthirsty smirk crossed his features then, causing Kagome to shiver involuntarily and simultaneously feel better about the situation. Sesshomaru was still the big bad wolf. Dog. There probably wasn't very much to worry about.

Ten minutes later, they were headed down the boarding ramp to the small dock. Kagome was thankful for the darkness because it kept the other demons from paying too close attention to the fact that she was glaringly human. The bright colors and jewel tones that made up the demon race made it extremely hard for her to blend in. However, no one was giving her a second glance, save for Sesshomaru, who was watching her like a hawk. He even rested a hand upon her shoulder as the crowd got thicker, effectively steering her down into a staircase that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

Kagome then lost the safe feeling that the darkness held as bright fluorescents lit their path down a long white hallway. The priestess could already tell that she would be sick of the color white before this whole trip was out. Everything looked so sterile and unfeeling that she was reminded strongly of a hospital.

Unbidden, memories came up of the time she spent recovering at Tokyo General after her final trip to the Feudal Era. The smells and the sights of the hallway before her were merging with what she remembered from her stay in the medical center, and it was not doing good things to her sense of wellbeing. The dog demon behind her seemed to sense this and urged her forward with his hand.

Sesshomaru then bent down, his silver bangs brushing over the shell of her right ear before he advised, "You mustn't show fear. The panel will surely try to start a bloodbath unless you remain strong." After a slightly awkward pause, he added, "I will not allow you to be injured."

"Thanks," Kagome managed out, trying to stand up straighter. That sure was sweet…ish of him. He was being extremely attentive to her emotions today, which was very weird, she felt, but in a good way.

"Where are we going, anyway?" She asked.

"We are headed to the stylists," Sesshomaru answered. The way he said it was rife with loathing, as if he'd rather have his arm sliced off again than have to continue their walk down the corridor.

"The demons that require new identities from the corporation will continue down this way, while demons that do not require them will be turning. Now." His grip on her shoulder tightened slightly as he steered her to the left, where another long hallway stretched before them.

"I do not doubt that you will be happy about this particular section, priestess." He said flatly.

"I will?" she asked, disbelieving. Sesshomaru just looked so displeased about the situation that she wasn't sure if she should believe him.

"You desire to remove that uniform, do you not?" He asked her, increasing their pace slightly. "I would be appreciative if you dressed in a practical manner. Something with layers. I do not want to deal with a frozen human."

With that, Sesshomaru planted a large hand on the silver door before them and pushed it open to reveal more of the color white, more bright lights, and more obnoxious demons. Before Kagome could even register what was happening, the tall male was striding away towards a mousy looking demon, who immediately scurried into what looked like the biggest closet ever built. Before she even think about asking where she was and what exactly was going on, a form at the edge of her vision caught Kagome's attention. She turned her head to regard the slim demon in front of her, who looked Kagome up and down with sharp eyes before speaking.

"So Lord Sesshomaru brings us a human to reinvent?" She said coldly, her gaze making Kagome feel woefully exposed and unattractive. The demoness was sleek in every sense of the word, from her glossy black hair all the way down to her patent leather pumps that were at least four inches tall. Kagome found herself twisting the wrinkled hem of her blouse as the woman took her in.

"Unorthodox," she said finally, "but we will make due without masking spells." She said this a bit louder in the direction of another demoness, who had ice blue hair that seemed to float as if underwater.

"Is there a style in particular that you would like me to select for you?" She asked, running elegant tapered fingers through her cropped hair.

"Um," Kagome said intelligently, remembering Sesshomaru's pushy requests. "Just something comfortable…with layers?"

While the demoness turned on her heel and strode away, the other swooped in from nearby to pick up Kagome's limp hair, still damp from the shower, and inspect the ends.

"What are you planning to do with this?" She asked, sounding slightly less snobbish than her wardrobe counterpart. "Are we removing length? Coloring?"

Kagome pulled away in a hurry at that. "Nothing is wrong with my hair!" she snapped, already tired of this ridiculous state of affairs. This wasn't some chick flick with a makeover montage. This was her life! Didn't they have to go talk to bloodthirsty demons about keeping her life, or something similar?

"Trim it and make it more presentable," came a familiar voice from behind her. "And dress her in something more _flattering,_" he said to the wardrobe woman, who immediately turned back into the clothing warehouse with whatever was in hand.

Gaping openly, Kagome turned to give the arrogant dog demon a piece of her mind, but was stopped short by what she saw.

Clothed casually in slim jeans and a stylish pullover, Sesshomaru looked coolly down at her with hazel eyes and almost white blonde hair. It was cropped to a short length and combed away from his face, which was wiped clean of all demonic marks. He raised a beautifully shaped brow at her expression, looking slightly amused.

"See something you like, Priestess?" He asked, smirking slightly at the blush that rose from her neck to dust her cheeks.

Choosing not to answer, Kagome made a growling sound. "Did I just hear you making decisions about a woman's hair without her consent? Do you have a degree in cosmetology that I don't know about, because otherwise I don't think that you're qualified to even touch that subject."

The dog demon shrugged his shoulders that seemed much larger with his short hair for some reason. "Yes."

"That was a rhetorical question, Sesshomaru," she snarled, before doing a mental double take. "Wait. Really?"

Sesshomaru pretended not to hear as he examined the clothes brought over by the wardrobe demoness.

"Acceptable," he told her, before turning to the hair demon. "Make sure that she looks presentable. I will be outside."

"Whoa," Kagome said, trying to comprehend all that had just happened. "Whoa, wait a second-" But he was gone, leaving Kagome in the hands of the ice twins, who closed in on her, poking and prodding with various hair styling instruments and claws.

It was hard enough to keep her cool without all of the alcohol in her system. She forced herself to relax. With all of the demons around it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep her abilities in check, especially after not using them for so long. She shut her eyes and tried some calming breaths, knowing that it couldn't possibly take that long for them to make her look "presentable."

By the time she finally emerged in a pair of jeans and a feminine sweatshirt with rose appliqués on the collar, hair trimmed and shining, there was a fire smoldering deep within her gray eyes, and it was all directed at a certain dog demon seated on a plush bench against the wall, who seemed almost apologetic as she stomped toward him.

"My scalp," she ground out. "Is almost bleeding."

"They were gentle with you, then." He said simply, standing. Kagome didn't miss the way his eyes flickered back to the door from which she just came, and the slight influence he placed on the word "you". A mischievous grin overtook her features as the puzzle pieces fit together in her mind.

"You sure hurried out of there before," Kagome said casually, sidling up to him. "And you seem to know how those two operate. You wouldn't happen to be…a past victim, would you?"

"Hn." He answered, turning abruptly to head down yet another hallway.

"If that was meant to be a no, Sesshomaru, I want you to know that I didn't miss the apprehensive look on your face just now." Kagome let out a giggle at the growl she got in response. It felt nice to have a visible effect on the demon lord for once. He had always been so untouchable, at least compared to her own constantly changing emotions.

Eventually they came to a stop at another set of doors. Sesshomaru took a moment to slide his new bracelet off, revealing his normal traits once again. He turned to look down at Kagome, who was fingering the hem of her sweatshirt nervously.

"This should go fairly quickly," he told her, reaching into his pocket to pull out a ring. "Put this on."

Upon inspection, the ring was one of a very obvious type. A round blue stone sat in the middle, nestled in a ring of tiny crystals. It was a lot lighter than she expected, which led her to the conclusion that this was a piece of costume jewelry.

"Is this a fake engagement ring?" She asked flatly, irritated by the fact that she would have picked out something very similar, had she actually been engaged.

"It is either that or a physical mark on your body," the dog demon said. "I deduced that you would prefer the less obtrusive choice."

"I guess you deduced right," the priestess told him with a sigh, sliding the ring onto the fourth finger of her left hand. "Is this it?" She asked, gesturing to the door. She caught a barely imperceptible nod from him before he launched into command mode.

"Simply keep to the story from before and I am confident that we will not have complications. Do _not _mention the Jewel of Four Souls, and do _not _mention that you are the Priestess of said jewel. In fact, only speak when asked a direct question. I will do most of the talking."

Kagome scowled at him. "I'm not stupid, you know. I wouldn't dare mention the jewel in front of them! And I don't see why you should be the one doing all of the talking, either."

"You will thank me later when you aren't dead," he replied.

"Oh no," she said, puffing her chest up and poking him hard in the chest with her index finger. "Don't you dare write me off. I'm no idiot. I'm pretty sure it was me who sold our story in the interrogation. All you did was feel me up through my shirt!"

Sesshomaru blanched inside. She wasn't supposed to have noticed that. "Is that what you think that was?" He said in his most icy voice, sending his patented glare down at her finger.

"I don't think, I know." She said, poking him once again for good measure. "You may be able to fool everyone else with that ice prick routine, but I see right through it."

"You know _nothing_," Sesshomaru hissed, grabbing her hand and forcing it away from his person. "about my so-called _routine_, human. As if I would touch someone like you _willingly_."

Much to his disappointment, Kagome did not take the bait he threw before her. Instead, her expression became cold as stone, but not before he saw a vulnerable hurt look flash across her face. She drew herself up, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles in her sweatshirt. "Lets get this over with, then. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can gain some semblance of normalcy."

Frustrated that she had allowed herself to become casual with her old enemy, she turned away to face the door and hugged herself, crushing the burgeoning feelings of attraction within. Perhaps it was the nostalgia that came with a figure from her past, the feeling of maybe belonging, once again, to something a little bigger than herself. It was only logical, she thought, that she would feel the need to be close to him, due to her not-so-subconscious desire to be with her feudal era friends.

Sesshomaru was the only link she had to them, and the temptation to fall back into the past was apparently overwhelming enough that she had jumped to connect with the dog demon that had barely said a sentence to her throughout her entire stint in the feudal era.

It was downright pathetic, and she was looking forward to going back to normal. Yes, only slightly less pathetic normalcy. At least the only things haunting her then were in her head.

An emotion Sesshomaru didn't feel too often was making itself at home in his chest. Guilt. He was being overtly defensive and commanding towards the human, but he knew he was right in his instructions about the upcoming meeting with the panel. He sighed inwardly. He was getting so soft. Perhaps he was just a toothless old dog.

"The panel is difficult to deal with. They live in the past and do not see humans as having strength. Especially women. If it appears that I have control over you, they will not see you as a threat to their security." He said finally, after a long pause.

Kagome turned back to look at him, caught off guard slightly by the raw emotion in his golden eyes. He was _sorry_. She knew that he wouldn't say it out loud, but she could tell that he was asking her to understand and forgive him.

She sighed softly. "I understand. I'll try to act accordingly." To her surprise, a smirk flitted across his features.

"If you could find it within you to produce those tears again…I would be appreciative."

"You…want me to cry?" She asked dubiously, narrowing her eyes in confusion.

"Unlike the owl on the ship, some of these demons will have extremely heightened senses of smell. It is possible that they could identify dishonesty. Your tears will confuse their noses."

"Huh," She said, shrugging. "I'd never thought of it that way….but if that will help…"

"It will," he told her, interested in her sudden complacency. It appeared that she just wanted a helpful part to play in this. The calculating manipulator inside of him filed that little fact away for future reference. If this was all it took to ensure her cooperation in difficult matters, then he would make great use of her pleaser personality.

"Come," he said, opening the door for her to allow her entrance. Taking a deep breath, she walked through the doorway and stopped short, confusion overtaking her features.

Kagome wasn't sure what she expected on the other side of the doors. She had been picturing a dark, dungeon-like room with severe judges and possibly some chains, but what she entered with Sesshomaru was extremely…average.

It was a quietly buzzing office space with several cubicles. To the left stood a pair of polished wood doors with an equally polished desk sitting beside it. A demon wearing an expertly cut suit was typing languidly on the keyboard, hooded eyes fixed on the screen.

As they approached the desk, the demon looked up at them, eyes raking over Kagome before focusing on Sesshomaru.

"Ah, Lord Sesshomaru," he said, glancing again at the screen. "Captain Johannson called about your…situation. The council has been waiting for you."

Sesshomaru nodded in response. He glanced back at a paling Kagome before striding to the doors fearlessly. Turning slightly, he quirked an eyebrow at her, prompting Kagome to move to stand beside him. His emotionless mask was firmly in place, and it was clear that he was in character as he opened one of the thick oak doors and walked in first, leaving Kagome to scramble after him.


	11. Inquisition

AN: I just want to mention how much I appreciate the support I've received for this story! Thanks everyone!

* * *

This room was more similar to the one Kagome imagined. It was full of leather and rich mahogany. There was a raised row at the very end of the room where the panel sat, behind a thick, polished wooden table, waiting for them with deceptively blank expressions on each of their faces. Kagome counted seven in all.

In front of the table was a pair of chairs, equally polished. Sesshomaru briskly walked toward them, leveling an intense look at every member of the panel before taking a seat with the softest of sniffs. Kagome followed directly after, moving somewhat skittishly to sit beside him. All of them were looking down their noses at her. Wonderful. A glance to her left made her realize that Sesshomaru was doing much the same thing.

This prompted her to look down at her lap. Let them think that she was the meekest human that they'd ever met!

"Lord Sesshomaru," spoke the demon sitting in the center. He was alabaster pale with a shock of bright red hair that shot upwards like a flame. Kagome was immediately irritated by his snide tone and frowned, hidden by her bangs. "It appears that your arrogance really does know no bounds."

"It is not arrogance," replied Sesshomaru evenly, "If you possess the power to back it up."

"So blatantly ignoring the laws of our world is allowed if you're powerful enough to "back it up"?" a dark skinned demon spoke up, tone less snide, but the fact that it was like cold iron didn't sound very nice to Kagome either.

"I am merely stating that I have the means, connections and resources to hide a human that I wish to take with me into my next life," he said, looking coolly back at the panel.

"Be that as it may, Lord Sesshomaru," said yet another member of the panel, a slim looking fox demon, "This human and her presence here is a very serious breach of security. Our system has not had a human infiltrate it since the Renaissance, and the main reason we have called you here this evening is to discuss how this happened, exactly."

"It happened easily enough," the dog demon answered, brushing a strand of silver hair behind his pointed ear. "My future mate is a flight attendant. I simply had a demoness attendant scheduled to board the Phoenix Flight call in sick and put Kagome in as a replacement."

"That is all?" The red haired demon said incredulously. "Can this flight attendant vouch for this claim?"

"Of course, as well as the pilot of the flight and head stewardess." Drawled Sesshomaru, looking bored.

"And the reason you decided to use our system for the first time with a human in tow?" Asked the demon on the far left.

"My own aircraft was having technical difficulties."

There was a silence for a moment at the panel as the members shared some looks. The cold emptiness in Kagome's stomach lessened somewhat as she realized that her companion really did have an answer for everything. To all who looked at him, Sesshomaru merely appeared to be bored and slightly irritated at being detained.

Kagome also noticed that everything he said was at least an echo of the truth, so she highly doubted her tears would make much of a difference regarding lie detection. The demons of the panel looked frustrated that they were blocked at every turn by his rapid, confident responses. As they began murmuring among themselves, Kagome allowed herself to breathe out in relief.

Then she saw Sesshomaru tense minutely beside her out of the corner of her eye. Apparently what they were discussing was something he did not like.

"Lord Sesshomaru, we would like to interview your intended alone, if you would indulge us." The redhead said, smirking before running his cold eyes over her body. Kagome suppressed a shiver, looking to Sesshomaru for guidance. He appeared to be calm on the outside, but Kagome could see his claws lengthening slightly as he stood.

He bent over, silver hair tickling her cheek as he hovered close to her left ear. "Remember what I said about their noses, and how they feel about humans and females." With that, he straightened abruptly, walking out without a backward glance.

Kagome felt the eyes of the council upon her then, and she looked down at the floor quickly. She knew Sesshomaru was behaving in character, but she couldn't help but feel utterly abandoned by him.

"Human," addressed the one she guessed was some kind of elemental. "You will explain the nature of the spell you used to ensnare Lord Sesshomaru."

"S-spell?" she spluttered, looking up at them in shock. "I don't know any spells, um…Lord Demon."

"Lord Sesshomaru has remained without a mate for his entire life. You expect us to believe that he would just suddenly become infatuated with you? A mere human?" the fox demon inquired, dropping her polite act from before.

"Well…" Kagome said quietly, looking down at her shoes, "I look at my life every day in disbelief… and I think, 'How could someone like him love someone like me?" She looked up at them, looking down their noses at her. "I never thought for a second that he would give me a second glance, honestly," Kagome said, liking the note of desperation that found its way into her voice. "I am very lucky that he wants me at all, I think."

"I disagree," said the redhead. "I think that instead you are very sneaky, human. Lord Sesshomaru would never lower himself to be with a filthy human. His family history should attest to that, if he even told you about it." He sneered.

"Actually-" she began, but was suddenly overpowered by the energy of each demon flaring in irritation.

"We are not here to listen to your lies, female!" The dark one hissed, eyes glowing orange. "Reveal the secret if you wish to leave here with your life."

"I didn't…" Kagome tried again, folding beneath the energy of the panel members. She suddenly felt much more nauseous than she did before, on the plane. She felt her long dormant powers rising within her, and she covered her mouth and doubled over, trying her hardest not to throw up. "I didn't do anything," she gasped, fighting to keep her priestess abilities contained. Why was she reacting this way?

Their energy rose as hers did, making the feeling worse. She could only hope that they didn't realize what she was.

The panel started talking amongst themselves again.

"I think the woman is telling the truth." Kagome thought that one might be the fox demon. She sounded disappointed.

"How can this situation be plausible at all?" hissed the fire demon.

"I am just as stumped as everyone else, but they are telling the truth. I would have smelled the deception on them from the start-" claimed the fox, before being interrupted.

"The fear smell from the stinking human is distorting your senses! We-"

"Silence!" growled the large demon in the corner, voice gravelly. "Regardless of either circumstance, we must decide what to do with them. We cannot let Lord Sesshomaru walk away from this untouched. What would that say to others about our position here?"

"Lord Sesshomaru is very formidable, perhaps one of the few demons who could see to our destruction…would it truly be wise to make him angry?" reasoned a demon that hadn't spoken previously. "We could cover up the situation easily on our own. He is older, and extremely magnanimous, rumors say. He would honor our request for silence."

"Are you suggesting we do nothing?" One of the demons spat.

"Is one insignificant human enough to stir the anger of one of the most powerful beings on earth?" the reasonable one countered. "Just let them go free."

There was some quiet arguing back and forth, them some silence.

"Allow Lord Sesshomaru back inside the chamber," called the fire demon, and Kagome looked back briefly to see Sesshomaru stalking down the aisle to her. He looked a nearly livid.

She swayed slightly in her seat, relieved. Then she must have blacked out for a second because Sesshomaru was suddenly there, at her right ear.

"What has happened?" he inquired, eyes roving her intently.

"I think I might be sick," she choked out quietly. "It just…came on suddenly."

Sesshomaru let out a growl and stood, glaring intently at the panel. "Explain."

"Oh, it's nothing we did," the fire demon said nonchalantly. "Maybe it's morning sickness. Perhaps you've sired a bastard half-breed, just like your father." The smirk was wiped off of his face when Sesshomaru's expression went dark and his massive demonic energy washed over all of them, including Kagome. She whimpered, struggling to keep herself in check.

Unfortunately, a demon on the end that had been silent for most of the exchange managed to rise from where he was cowering and pointed a clawed finger at her. "I saw it! A spark of holy power! She is a priestess!"

There was a collective gasp from the group, and Kagome could hear their shouts to each other about her danger to their entire operation. Their energies flared once more, causing her body to tingle uncomfortably. She felt her control slipping and clutched her suddenly throbbing head before letting out a scream as her powers exploded outward. It bathed the entire room in a blue light, and in her rapidly blurring vision she could see the members of the panel leap from their seats and press themselves against the back wall.

She vaguely felt herself being lifted and thrown over a broad shoulder. She slumped in relief, knowing immediately that it was Sesshomaru. Her vision blurred again and started tunneling. All she could see now was the color white. Eventually she realized that she was moving along a brightly lit hallway at a blinding speed. This didn't do much for Kagome's already curdling stomach, so she hid her face in the back of Sesshomaru's pullover, squeezing her eyes shut so tightly it nearly hurt.

* * *

The next thing she knew, water was being splashed on her face. "Woman," Sesshomaru urged. "Wake up. We need to leave."

Immediately, Kagome rolled over and emptied her stomach's contents into what she discovered was grass. It appeared that they were in the forest surrounding the complex.

"I'm so sorry," she said, sitting up weakly. "I couldn't…I tried to…"

"Silence," Sesshomaru snapped, taking off his outermost layer and throwing it over her. "Put that on and drink some water," he commanded. Kagome obeyed without a word, gladly bending over the stream they sat by to rinse the horrible taste from her mouth.

"They have raised the alarm and shut off all normal paths of departure from the island," he muttered quickly after she sat up again, draping what she realized was his computer bag over her shoulder.

"Will you be able to hold on?" He asked her, which confused Kagome to no end.

"Hold on…?" she asked, looking up at his rapidly elongating face. Realization dawned. It appeared that she would just have to. "Yes," she answered, shielding her eyes as Sesshomaru immediately transformed with a burst of blinding red light. When it dispersed, what she saw made her mouth drop open.

Sesshomaru had been large enough back when she and Inuyasha retrieved the Tetsusaiga, but she remembered that his father's massive bones had easily dwarfed him. This Sesshomaru was colossal, easily equaling the size of the late Dog General, if not surpassing him.

Kagome could only gape as Sesshomaru lowered his great head, growling and nudging at her slightly with his nose. She took that as a cue to climb aboard, which she did with some difficulty, but managed by digging her fingers into the downy fur of his ear and using it like a ladder.

Once she was settled in the valley between Sesshomaru's vast shoulder blades, Kagome sunk down into his fur quickly as he began to move. The wind immediately bit at her face and she ducked down completely, hearing his roaring bark and random crashing sounds as he cleared the forest.

It was dark where she sat for the most part, but Kagome could see the reflections off of the surrounding trees from the attacks from other demons as they fell upon them. Sesshomaru seemed unfazed for the most part, running unchecked through the fray. He leapt easily over most of the compound, heading directly for the peak on the far side of the island.

Just when Kagome felt comfortable enough to let out the breath she was holding, Sesshomaru let out a ferocious snarl that sounded a little less confident than usual, and upon looking over her shoulder, Kagome found herself face to face with the fiery-haired elemental demon from before.

His face was terribly burned on one side from Kagome's holy power, freezing his face in a terrifying grimace. Kagome shrieked, scooting backwards, but the demon grabbed her ankle, infusing his grip with energy.

Kagome felt a burning unlike anything she had ever experienced. She couldn't breathe, couldn't scream. There was just pain.

"How does it feel, bitch?" the demon snarled, moving up on hands and knees to cage her beneath him. "It hurts, doesn't it? Just imagine how it's going to feel when I give you a face to match mine!"

Adrenaline coursed through her, making the pain dull and her vision clear. Kagome saw the demon's hand reaching for her cheek and reacted, throwing her hands up to hit his chest squarely with her palms. There was another blinding flash of blue light, and Kagome watched as the pain rose up and the stars overhead started to blur…


	12. More Trouble

Kagome woke up to a roaring in her ears and gray as far as she could see. The sky above her was the color of brushed steel, complimenting the chilly wind that ran its fingers down her spine through her clothes, which were oddly heavy and wet.

Kagome rubbed her eyes in an attempt to remove any accumulated grit, only to discover that there was a good deal more there than she expected. It was everywhere, on her face and in her hair as well as in her mouth. She turned her head to spit out the offending sand, only to realize that she was resting on quite a lot of it.

The fact that she was currently on a beach didn't occur to her until the roaring waves rushed up and soaked Kagome's bottom half in freezing saltwater. She squealed and jumped out of the water, squelching over to a nearby rock where she climbed up and away from anything wet. It was then that her leg started burning dully.

"Ow," she muttered to herself, maneuvering on the rock so that she could see her leg clearly.

Upon inspection, she realized that the leg of her jeans had been burned away to right below the knee. The memory of the fire demon came shooting back as she took in the almost beautiful swirling pattern of the angry red marks on her pale skin. She furrowed her brows in confusion. If the pain had been enough to make her pass out, she wondered, why did it look like it was a week old? She had expected some horrific scarring or blisters, both of which were absent. She decided to push these questions to the back of her mind for the time being.. She could move around without too much discomfort, which was enough to care about for now.

Coughing slightly due to her sandy throat, Kagome turned her head gingerly in order to take in her surroundings. She followed the line of the water as it disappeared with the beach at the horizon. The beach sand was dark and riddled with rocks, and fringing the edges were large trees.

Kagome was sure that the trees were beautiful when the light was right, but under the stormy looking sky they looked immense and frightening. This sight was a far cry from her last location, which included a tropical rainforest, endless ocean views, and of course, a huge dog demon.

"Sesshomaru?" Kagome called softly, looking around the immediate area for him, suddenly realizing his absence. The wind blew her hair roughly into her line of vision, which she hastily pulled back with a hand to search frantically for the missing dog demon. The breeze reminded her rather cruelly that she was soaked. Goosebumps began traveling across her skin, causing Kagome's teeth to chatter.

It was absolutely freezing. She knew that Sesshomaru wouldn't leave her stranded like this if he could help it. At least, she was fairly sure that he wouldn't.

Reaching out with her priestess energy, she was dismayed and afraid to discover that she couldn't feel his energy at all. Was he really that far away? As her breath started to quicken, the frantic beating of her heart could be heard in her own ears, even over the sound of the waves. She was alone in this place, and she wasn't even sure where 'this place' was.

As she surveyed the surrounding beach in search for her traveling companion, a strange indention in the sand caught her eye. She slid off of the boulder and edged closer to it, curious, only to realize what it was as she came to stand at its edge. It was a massive paw print. She looked around wildly for any others and successfully spotted another one about a hundred yards off.

Running as fast as she could while squelching through wet sand, she started following the scattered prints across the beach. They were slowly growing closer together and seemed to go in circles at some points while becoming sloppier and less definite. It was at this point that Kagome started to become concerned. As long as Kagome had known Sesshomaru, he had been neat to a fault, never with a hair out of place.

Even the more inebriated Sesshomaru that she had met on the cruise didn't stagger. She knew she'd have to find the missing demon quickly to set her mind at ease. She followed the tracks until they disappeared near a rather large pile of boulders.

Kagome frowned. They didn't look big enough to hide a fully-grown dog demon. She started climbing in order to investigate and gasped when she reached the tops of the rocks.

There was a furry, blood covered carcass lying on the rocky shore, but the fur was a russet color, not white. It looked like a large wolf of some kind. There had obviously been a fight, but where was Sesshomaru?

After a minute or so of sheer panic, she felt it. The smallest amount of demonic energy brushed the very edge of her senses, causing Kagome to whip her head in a definite direction. Without thinking, she slid down the rocks, sharp points scratching through her jeans. It was Sesshomaru; she could feel it. Adrenaline began running like ice water through her veins as she ran towards the source, legs feeling numb and not her own.

"Sesshomaru!" She called again, scrutinizing the trees as she hurtled past the beach and into the forest. His energy was going in and out of reach, fluttering like a bird. Kagome didn't allow herself to think about what that could possibly mean. She hated that the stupid fire demon caused her to pass out. She could have helped Sesshomaru with the second attack…

Then, a flash of silver in the corner of her eye made Kagome come skidding to a stop. She slipped on the damp leaves, landing hard on a wrist. It was ignored as she rushed forward. Sesshomaru was crumpled on the ground before a mighty oak, his hair spread like a shining web across the forest floor.

Kagome tore past several broken trees, feeling numbed and cut off from her thoughts as she slowly came to the realization of what must have happened. He managed to kill his opponent, obviously, but it was evident that the other demon was able to get some serious hits in on its own before expiring.

She was sure that the fact that he had just fought an island full of angry demons and flown an undetermined distance didn't help Sesshomaru win the battle. From the looks of the land, they were located somewhere far removed from anything remotely tropical, which meant he had to have flown far.

After what seemed like minutes rather than mere seconds, she managed to reach him. Her heart wrenched as she threw herself down at his side and brushed the tangled and sandy hair out of his face.

"Sesshomaru?" She half whispered, hands trembling as she took a visual survey of his prone body. He was breathing, which, she supposed, was very good. She was puzzled to find that there were bloodstains riddling his body, even beneath his clothes. She gently rolled up a sleeve to inspect and saw claw marks. Further scrutiny of his person revealed plenty of scorch marks on his clothes and skin, as well as the ends of his hair. Guilt squeezed her chest at the realization that it was her lack of control that caused that particular group of injuries.

It surprised her. She remembered her few personal battle interactions with Sesshomaru. He seemed completely unfazed by anything. Then again, Kagome couldn't remember the last time her powers had just blown out of control like that. She sighed. Nothing could be done about it now. Smoothing his bangs to the side apologetically, Kagome finished assessing his superficial injuries.

Knowing next to nothing about demon transformations, Kagome guessed that the other injuries translated to his humanoid form, ignoring the placement of his clothes. To get a look at everything, she would have to strip him. Another well placed breeze whistled through the trees, however, reminding her that it was very cold and wet.

Stripping would have to wait. Kagome rolled back on her heels, biting her lip. He seemed pretty stable considering the unconsciousness and blood. Panic was still clawing at her insides, however. It looked like they would be stuck in the middle of nowhere for a while. She wondered what the odds of being found were. Looking over Sesshomaru again, she realized that his appearance was very obviously demonic and would not go over well with the average passerby.

It suddenly occurred to her that his armband was likely in the computer bag he had draped over her before they decided to take off. Her hand went automatically to her hip, even though she knew it wasn't there.

"Crap," she muttered, lurching halfway to her feet. She needed the bag, obviously, but she was torn between going to find it and staying with her injured…friend? Could she even call him a friend at this point? Kagome decided to file important questions like that away for the moment and stood fully, intent on returning to the beach to find the missing bag.

The minute she stood, however, she felt something warm and damp blow down her neck. Her cheeks, reddened from the cold, paled to white as she turned to face the enormous wolf that she had mistaken for a carcass earlier.

"Shit."

The great animal stood at least two feet taller than her on all fours. Its muzzle was smeared with blood. Blood that, Kagome realized in horror, belonged to Sesshomaru. The wolf raised its hackles and growled; the vibrations from it reverberated within Kagome's rib cage, intensifying as she started to hear the blood rushing through her ears. As scared as she was, she instinctively knew that stepping back or retreating in any way would be a terrible idea.

She felt her palms warm as purifying energy sparked to life within her tightly closed fists. At least the fact that she had been manhandled by so many demons in the last forty-eight hours meant that her dormant powers were alive and well.

"Back off!" She told it, managing to sound much braver than she felt. "Unless you want to be dust, I'd recommend leaving us alone and going back to where you came from!" She squared her shoulders and stepped into a more protective stance in front of Sesshomaru.

"Stupid human," the demon chuckled. His voice was deep and guttural, and when he spoke, rancid breath made its way to Kagome's upturned face. It took everything she had not to retch.

"You're the reason I'm here," it continued. "Did you think you could escape Phoenix Corp so easily?"

"Well, I had hoped that you would leave us alone," she admitted, hoping to stall a bit so that she could assess their surroundings better. "How am I going to reveal anything? I'm a flight attendant who barely made it through high school. No one would believe me."

"While that is true," the demon conceded, beginning to circle them. "The bigwigs who sent me are less concerned about you blabbering and more interested in the fact that you purified the interrogation panel. It made things a bit more…complicated."

"Aren't you scared that I'll purify you too?" She asked, spotting a sturdy and pointy stick not two yards away. Now all she had to do was wait for the right moment.

"You won't. Not here anyway. The risk of hurting your boyfriend here is pretty high if you unleash on me."

"I don't know if you noticed, but he's not really that damaged from my first outburst. He would survive another one," she bluffed, taking a step towards the stick.

"And you're moving away because?" He asked, snapping his huge jaws at her ankle. It was the opening Kagome needed. She squealed and pretended to stumble forward, grasping the stick in one of her fists as she whirled to catch her balance.

"I will purify you if you don't back off," she reiterated, standing more solidly. Let him think she was bluffing.

"And take out Lord Sesshomaru in the process? That makes the risk worth taking, human." And he lunged.

Somehow, despite the cold and the exhaustion bearing down on her, Kagome managed to dodge the snap of his teeth and imbue her stick with holy power. She swung at its great head as hard as she could muster when it turned to attack again, catching the monster hard in the jaw. She let out a little whoop of triumph, not anticipating the large tail that swept her clean off her feet and into a nearby tree.

Stunned, she tried to take in a breath, but the blow had knocked it right out of her. She focused ahead on the demon thrashing on the forest floor in pain, the smell of burnt fur reaching her nostrils. She felt a tiny bit of relief at that., but the fact that there was some movement meant that her job wasn't over yet.

After a few moments, when the pain subsided enough that she was able to breathe, she sat up, locating her stick by sight. It had skittered across the clearing and laid about twenty feet from her location. Wincing, she jumped up and dashed for it, keeping the form of the demon in the corner of her eye as she did so. She was almost there when it came up again, lunging. She managed to jump out of its way, landing hard to her knees. The beast was upon her immediately, snarling.

Panic flooded her. This was it. She was going to die. She shut her eyes tight when the weight of the demon pushed her to the ground. There was something long and hard pressing into her chest. Eyes opened wide in realization. The stick! She rolled to face her attacker, holding her makeshift weapon securely within a fist.

The wolf snapped its teeth in her face, hackles raised in a frightening grin, horrifically lopsided because of the injury she inflicted. "Well, little priestess, it appears that I have caught you," he snarled, once again sending terrible breath into Kagome's face. It was beginning to piss her off.

"Now…shall I finish you off quickly, or relish in slowly ripping you apart?" He asked, lowering his maw to grasp her outstretched arm between his jaws. Kagome let loose a hoarse scream as its teeth sunk into the soft flesh. She could feel blood start to run down her arm and started kicking wildly, unable to make contact with any part of the wolf's body.

Then, as if by magic, her left foot smacked the demon quite solidly in the mouth of a wound Sesshomaru must have inflicted earlier. When it dropped her arm to howl in pain, Kagome knew it was now or never.

The priestess tightened her already white-knuckled grip on her stick and jammed it into the demon's neck with all her might. It slid in with a squelch, made easier by the purifying powers being channeled through it. The beast shuddered, and Kagome felt hot blood spray her face. She scrambled out from between its paws as it fell forward with a deadened thud from the leaves.

It seemed to shine blue from the inside as the purification did its work, and Kagome let out a sigh, relieved that the battle was over. She looked over at Sesshomaru, a hand going to rub her injured left arm. He was the same as before the fight, which Kagome wasn't sure was a good or bad thing.

The bag rose to her mind again and Kagome knew that it might be their only hope. Forcing herself to her feet this time, she winced, arm throbbing now that the adrenaline had worn off. She stumbled away towards the beach, keeping her eyes peeled for the missing bag.


	13. Panic

Sorry once again for the lapse in updates. This chapter was hard to get through for some reason. I'm just as anxious as you all are to get to the romance part of this story and bridges make me impatient!

I also have two new projects, The Black Swan (Not movie related), and a Dokuga exclusive drabble series, The Guy In Green. Yes, I am plugging them. PLEASE read them!

Enjoy the next installment!

Kagome had been wandering the beach for a little over an hour with absolutely no luck. The sun was beginning to make its way to the western horizon, which, while beautiful, caused the temperature to drop until it was basically unbearable.

Kagome was shivering violently from the cold, and her arm burned something awful. She had forgone bandaging it in favor of looking for Sesshomaru's missing bag, which she regretted very much. It was getting to the point where visibility was getting difficult. On the verge of tears, she began trudging back down the beach to where Sesshomaru was.

Even though she was used to roughing it, this was a far cry from anything she ever had to deal with. Even her frequent kidnappings in the past were either somewhat comfortable or too brief to matter.

Due to thoughts of the past, as well as the darkening beach, Kagome didn't see the rock jutting out of the sand at her feet and tripped, scraping her hands and causing the pain in her arm to flair up. She rolled over with a cry, too exhausted to even think about getting up.

Useless. She was so useless! What good was protecting Sesshomaru from that demon if she was going to let him die from exposure? She clenched sand in her good fist, trying to blink the tears from her eyes. It looked like her mother would be losing a daughter after all.

She laid there in the throes of self-pity for a while, long enough for the dusk to blend into night. It was getting colder, and she knew returning to Sesshomaru in the woods at this point would be impossible to do by sight. After a few more minutes, whiny, ridiculous Kagome was replaced with practical, capable Kagome.

She rolled to her feet slowly, shaking the sand out of her hair. She made a point to remember not to tell anyone about her brief breakdown. It was simply shameful. As she started jogging in Sesshomaru's direction, a strange gleam caught her eye. Under a nearby rock, something was glowing.

She went over to it, and realized with a pleased jolt that it was the computer bag. Sesshomaru must have placed it between the two boulders to keep it protected from the tide. She was slightly miffed to know that he didn't protect her from the tide, but conceded that he might not have had time to do so.

Kagome reached under the top rock and could feel a cell phone resting on top of the leather bag. It was vibrating, to her surprise.

With a shaking hand she drew the phone out and pressed the answer key, not bothering to read the caller id.

"Where are you? I've been waiting for hours!" an irritated voice growled from the other end. "I swear to God if you've found some skank demoness and are out getting drunk somewhere again, I will _not _be the one picking you up. I have a life, you know, and-"

The tirade would have continued if Kagome hadn't uttered a well placed, raspy "Excuse me," after sitting in shock for a few seconds. Who talked to Sesshomaru like this and lived?

The person on the other line paused. "Hello? Who is this?"

"My name is Kagome, Kagome Higurashi. Do you work for Sesshomaru?" She asked quickly, hoping that the fact that he mentioned a demoness in his rant meant that she could trust him. She jumped when she heard the clatter of plastic from the other side.

"Did you just say Kagome Higurashi?" the voice asked, slightly squeaky.

"Yes," she answered carelessly, relieved that someone may know her and her situation. "Listen, Sesshomaru…he's not moving. I can't…I can't get him to wake up, and we've been stranded for hours…I don't know what to do anymore, and I'm scared!" she cried, falling back into hysterics.

"What?" Suddenly the voice was all seriousness and soothing. A pause. "Don't worry. I had a GPS locator installed on his phone about a month ago. I'll find your location momentarily. " There was another brief pause while Kagome sagged with relief, letting out the breath she wasn't aware of holding.

"Okay," the voice started up again. "I'm in Seattle, and it looks like you're on the coast about an hour and a half from here. Are you in a place that will be safe to wait?"

"I don't think so," Kagome said tearfully, as her arm gave another throb. "We already had to fight off a wolf demon…please just hurry."

"I'm going to grab some supplies," he said. "I'll be there as quickly as I can. Keep warm." There was a click, and Kagome panicked.

"He hung up! I can't believe he hung up!" She shrieked, managing to look scared and murderous at the same time. She fumed silently at the phone until an owl call echoed in the dark, making her jump and remember her unconscious charge in the forest.

She stuffed the phone in her back pocket and jogged back the way she came, shouldering the bag as she ran. Sesshomaru's energy was even harder to pinpoint at this point, and it was a minor miracle that she managed to find him again. She stumbled a bit due to the lack of light and pulled the phone out, clicking a button to light the display.

"Sesshomaru," she said urgently, hovering over his face. "Can you hear me?" She watched as his eyelids fluttered slightly, but frowned in disappointment when he merely exhaled a little louder than before. She put a hand to his cheek then, gently tracing his stripes with her thumb.

They had paled in the last few hours, a fact that concerned her greatly. When she closed her eyes and focused, his usually intense and overwhelming energy was frighteningly weak. It was almost as if it wasn't there at all.

"What happened?" She whispered to him, angry that all she had to go on were bits and pieces. She sighed, well aware that she wasn't going to receive a reply. At this point, there wasn't much she could do while waiting for their mysterious savior.

She was pretty sure she knew the person on the other line from the past due to his reaction; she just wasn't sure who it was. She filed that inquiry away with the rest of them and shivered when a stray wind made its way through the trees. She looked upon Sesshomaru with fascination as goose bumps appeared on his skin, more noticeable because of the cell phone light. Scooting so she was kneeling above the unconscious demon's head, she tugged him up forcefully by the shoulders until his head was resting in her lap and her back was against a nearby tree.

"I'm sorry I can't get you more comfortable," she told him, maneuvering his hair so that it streamed out to one side. "But I think you would prefer my lap to the ground."

The light on the phone went out shortly after that, leaving the pair in pitch-black darkness.

It was only an hour and a half to wait. She could do anything for an hour and a half, right? She was less confident when thoughts started rising about their location, and whether this person could find two people in a forest in the dark. Unconsciously her fists crinkled the shoulders of Sesshomaru's shirt as anxiousness threatened to overwhelm her.


	14. Rescue

Chapter 14

The snapping of a nearby twig made Kagome jerk to attention. She regretted her sudden movement immediately, as she suddenly felt every injury she had sustained over the last two days. Biting back a groan, she pulled Sesshomaru closer to her as she strained to see in the dark forest.

Shaking, she tried to look for the dropped cell phone to shed some light as she listened for more noise over the sound of her heart's pounding, but the crackling of some leaves mere feet away sparked pure panic in her.

Eyes wide, she pulled her uninjured arm back and formed a fist, blue light flaring as her powers rose to the forefront. It illuminated the clearing only briefly, but long enough for Kagome to catch sight of a fox the size of a German Shepard. It stared at her with its bright eyes until the purifying light faded.

Tensing, Kagome shut her eyes, ready for what was sure to be a painful attack, but blue light bloomed beneath her eyelids, followed by a warm hand on her cheek.

"Kagome? It's all right, I'm here to get you."

Shippo could feel her trembling beneath his fingers. The smell of dog demon, wolf, and human blood hung in the air, as well as the scent of burnt flesh. It made chills run up and down his spine.

"Kagome," he prompted again, gently. "You remember me, don't you?" Remembering human night vision, he conjured his fire in the palm of his free hand in order to give everyone some illumination.

Kagome licked her cracked lips, taking in the green eyes and auburn hair of the male in front of her.

"Shippo?" she whispered, eyes wide with disbelief. "Is it really you?"

At his answering nod, the woman threw her arms around his neck, sobbing for all she was worth. As they were hindered by Sesshomaru's weight on her lap, Shippo had to brace himself against the tree Kagome leaned against to keep from falling.

"I thought I'd never see you again!" she cried, voice muffled by his fleece. The fox demon placed a hand on the back of her head, comfortingly running his fingers through her hair.

"It's good to see you too, Kagome," he said, breathing in her scent. It had been far too long. Shippo held her tightly, trying to convey the happiness he felt after being reunited with his dear friend.

After a good cry, Kagome leaned back, wiping her eyes. "I'm so glad to see you, Shippo."

"I bet you are," he replied, rekindling his fire in order to take in Kagome's bedraggled hair and bruises, as well as Sesshomaru's cuts and burns.

"What on earth happened? You both look like hell."

Kagome gave him a tremulous smile, which alerted Shippo to the almost blue tinting of her lips. "Could explanations come after we're somewhere warmer?" she asked, trying to control the chattering of her teeth.

"Of course," Shippo exclaimed, jumping up. "Can you stand?" he asked, making quick work of hoisting Sesshomaru up over his shoulders.

"Yeah," she answered, rising unsteadily to her feet. Her ankle and arm began throbbing in unison, and a sharp pain stabbed her in the side when she inhaled to steel herself for the trek to safety.

"It isn't far," Shippo reassured, watching her wobble. "Less than half a mile."

"That close?" Kagome asked dazedly, following Shippo's fox fire illuminated form through the trees. "That makes me sort of mad."

"What would you have done? It's just a parking lot."

"I thought we were lost in the middle of nowhere. If I hadn't found the phone…"

Visions of freezing to death or being eaten by a bear flashed in her brain, causing her to shudder. Kagome was perfectly aware that finding a parking lot wouldn't have made any difference, but she was so illogically angry that something pertaining to civilization was so well within reach that she couldn't see straight. Actually…

"Shippo," she said faintly, coming to rest up against a nearby tree. "I think you're going to have to come back for me." She gripped her arm in the dark, feeling the fresh blood soaking her sleeve.

"What?" He smelled the blood and turned back, concerned. Kagome was far too pale for his tastes, and more blue, besides. "I can get both of you. Come here." Steadying Sesshomaru with one arm, the foxfire went out as Shippo swung Kagome up onto his hip like a child.

"Put your arms around my neck," he instructed, groaning slightly as he readjusted Sesshomaru's position. "This dog needs to lay off the peanut butter sandwiches," he grunted, earning a half-hearted smile from Kagome, who laid her head on his shoulder as soon as he started moving.

"Hold on," the fox told her, breaking into a loping run. The faster they got to the car, the better.

It felt like hours later the next time Kagome opened her eyes. Above her was a star scattered sky, but it seemed to be moving rather quickly. Raising her head slightly to take in her dark surroundings, she tried to remember when she had fallen asleep, then realized that she was in motion, recognizing the white noise sound of a car traveling over asphalt.

It was dark inside the vehicle, but as her eyes adjusted she could make out Sesshomaru's form slumped on the seat next to her own. His head lolled and rocked gently with the movement of the car, and his impossibly long legs seemed to be folded up against the seat in front of him.

"Shippo?" she called, wincing at how raspy she sounded. She sat up straighter, feeling her damp clothes against her skin and the bruises from her injuries. The air inside the car was warm, however, and she leaned forward gingerly to meet Shippo's eyes.

"Hey," The fox greeted, winking at her. "Feeling better?"

"Much better," She said tiredly, smiling for him. There was a moment of silence.

"So, are you ready to tell me what the heck happened?" he asked, going back to keeping his eyes on the road. "I was waiting for Sesshomaru-sama to arrive in Seattle hours after he was supposed to, you're the one who answers the phone when I call, and he's unconscious. I can't even imagine how this happened."

"It is pretty wild," she admitted, regaling him with her adventure of the last few days. Shippo's listening style was a great deal more involved than Sesshomaru's. He laughed and gasped in all the right places, staying mostly quiet. Kagome was just explaining their escape from the island when Shippo interrupted.

"Wait, wait. Sesshomaru transformed?"

"Yes. He flew us here after stomping everyone…" Kagome trailed off, perplexed by the irritation that was plain on Shippo's face.

"That stubborn idiot. This explains a lot." He glanced at Kagome. "Let me start from the beginning…or sort of the beginning. "

"After electricity and industrialization, we started noticing that some of the older demons were causing problems like blackouts, interference, and the like. Most of the time we can keep it in check, but really powerful demons like Sesshomaru need an outlet every once in a while." Shippo's face contorted into a scowl at this.

"Sesshomaru," he said, pronouncing each syllable slowly, "had a problem remembering that he needed to do that, and was able to get away with it until 1965, when he was on business and caused the great Northeast Blackout here in the States."

"You're kidding."

"Wish I was. After that he decided that he wanted to try something else. D'you remember the pelt he always wore?"

"How could I forget?" Kagome laughed softly, regretting it when her side throbbed, but continued, "He flung Inuyasha across the room with it the first time we met…and I held onto it when he found me inside Naraku."

"Well, it can be used to store energy. Sesshomaru transferred over half of his into it, and it remains warded in a vault below the main house. It's a ridiculous amount of energy, but in this day in age he doesn't need it…unless…"

"He transforms," a dismayed Kagome finished, glancing back at the prone dog demon.

"Right," said Shippo, raising a hand to rub his temple. "He uses so much energy to transform that it is a miracle that he survived flying as far as the both of you did."

Kagome leaned back, covering her face with her scraped hands. "Why…why would he do all of that for me? Risk his life? I-I'm not worth that."

"Hey, don't say that," Shippo said gently, reaching back to take one of her hands. "You are part of our pack - our family. Sesshomaru wasn't going to let anything happen to you."

"I don't really consider myself part of Sesshomaru's family, Shippo. I barely know him."

Shippo gave her hand a squeeze. "Maybe not him, but you know me. How much has Sesshomaru told you about the rest of our family?"

"Nothing." She said, vaguely surprised. "Just about Jaken and Kouga."

"Well," Shippo said, tone thoughtful. "Not sure why he left everyone else out. We can ask him when he wakes up."

"You can't tell me?" she asked.

"You know Sesshomaru. He's got a reason for everything he does. Whatever his reasons for this, I'm positive he planned to tell you soon," the grown kit reassured her.

The two fell silent for a time, both processing recent occurances.

"Kagome…I've been wondering for a long time…and I mean a really long time…"

"Why I left?" she finished for him, looking down into her lap. She knew this question was coming the minute she saw him in the woods.

The fox demon nodded, waiting for Kagome to continue.

"Shippo…I regretted it as soon as it happened. I tried to come back immediately after…but the well wouldn't let me through. I was trapped here…and I wanted desperately to come back to you, to Inuyasha…to say goodbye properly."

She was silent again for a minute, reaching up to touch the jewel, glimmering on the end of its chain. "The reasoning, though…the original reason I had...I just couldn't let what happened to Sango and Miroku and K-Kaede –" she took a deep, shuddering breath in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. "I couldn't let that happen to anyone else because of me. Because of this _thing _around my neck."

"We all knew the risks-"

"No." Kagome interrupted. "I let my guard down. With Naraku dead, I should have known that others would have come after it. I should have protected the jewel…and I should have been able to protect myself." Her voice grew deeper and more tremulous with each passing second.

"Kagome…" Shippo tried, wracking his brain for anything he could say to comfort her.

"I don't want to talk about it any more tonight," she said quickly, a little harsher than needed. "I'm tired."

And she was. It was getting hard to keep her eyes open.

"Okay," Shippo said, squeezing her hand again. "Get some sleep. It'll be another couple of hours before we make it home."

"Home?" Kagome questioned, sliding bonelessly back against her seat.

"Well, the current one. Sesshomaru likes to move around."

"Sesshomaru," Kagome mumbled, looking over at him. She reached clumsily for his hand, touching it gently. "M'sorry…please be okay."

She leaned her head back then, attempting to get her aches to melt away for a just little while.


	15. Waking

Kagome remembered waking up briefly when Shippo stopped and turned the car off.

"Are we here?" she tried to ask, but her throat was bone dry and it came out as a cough and a moan. Her arm was throbbing something awful, and she felt distinctly shivery and weak. It occurred to her in her blurry mind that the wolf demon's mouth was probably horribly unsanitary.

She flinched when Shippo opened her car door, protesting feebly at the intrusion of cold air into the warm car. She barely felt his fingers brush her forehead before he unbuckled her and lifted her into his arms.

"Don't worry, it's warm inside," he told her, unlocking the door and stepping in over the threshold.

Kagome relaxed as soon as the warmth surrounded her, sinking back into sleep.

Sesshomaru was floating. Or, it felt like it anyway. He felt so unattached from his body, his responsibilities. It was a new feeling, and he reveled in it. He couldn't remember how he got there, but it was hard to hold onto anything for more than a few seconds.

After a few moments, however, there seemed to be something weighing him down. It was slowly increasing, causing the normally calm demon to panic slightly. It was so heavy, so crushing. He let out a slight groan as things grew heavier and darker, more suffocating. He slowly realized what was happening and calmed slightly. He was waking up, but he couldn't remember how he fell asleep, and why it seemed so hard to come back into the world of the living.

He could barely move. Opening his eyes was unnecessarily difficult, but he was grateful to learn that someone had pulled the shades on the windows, wherever he was. He had a headache that was painful beyond belief.

"Sesshomaru?" A figure leaned over him. It was his assistant. "Hey, you're alive."

The dog demon swallowed before replying, "So it would seem."

"Where is she?" he rasped, the second time he woke up. He didn't feel the least bit improved, and he felt as if he had been sleeping for days. The throbbing in his head seemed to have increased.

"Kagome?" Shippo asked to clarify. "She had a rough time when you were knocked out. I put both of you in here so I could keep watch."

"What?" Sesshomaru asked, too tired to formulate a real question.

"She'll be fine. I'll let her explain it when you both are coherent."

A brief look to his left revealed the priestess, fast asleep. Her creamy skin was marred with scratches and the color was high on her cheeks. His hearing picked up some slightly ragged breathing. Was the woman ill?

Normally he would be adamant in receiving his information, but honestly Sesshomaru wasn't sure that his brain could handle anything else being put into it.

"Aspirin." He said, lying back and closing his eyes. "A lot of it."

Kagome roused some time later with a soft hiss. The gentle light filtering in through gauzy curtains felt blinding and hot, and she rolled over to avoid it, feeling the movement in her ribs.

"Ow…" she breathed, gingerly beginning to stretch her arm outward. It wasn't burning like before, but there was a definite ache. She was confused when she pushed against a force that refused to allow much arm movement. It became evident that her arm was in a sling after feeling around with her uninjured hand.

Squeezing her eyes open, she was very shocked to find a sleeping face scant inches from hers.

Squeaking in surprise, she jerked upright, regretting it immediately when the room spun dangerously. Kagome fell back into the sheets, bunching a fist against her pounding temple. After the dizziness passed, she opened one eye to peek at the person next to her, and her expression softened.

"Sesshomaru," she whispered, taking him in. She was suddenly overcome with questions.

Where were they, exactly? How long had they been there? Had he woken up at all?

Almost unconsciously, she reached out with her good arm to brush her fingertips across the dog demon's cheekbone. It was a relief to see that the color was back on his markings, at least.

The sound of footsteps coming down the hallway made her snatch her hand away before the door opened.

"Kagome!" Shippo exclaimed, a grin lighting up his features. Five auburn colored tails waved gently behind him as he fully entered the room, dressed in a rugby shirt and a pair of blue jeans.

"Hi, Shippo," she said quietly, smiling. Modern clothes looked good on him.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asked her, walking around to sit on the bed beside her. There was a glass of water in one of his hands that he set on the bedside table.

"Honestly, I've had much better days," she admitted, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face. It made her realize that she was no longer grimy and covered in sand.

Her hair was clean, and with looking down came the discovery of a soft dress shirt that came down past her knees. She plucked absently at a button before looking back up the grown fox demon.

"In addition to the little burn on your ankle, you have a sprained wrist, one cracked rib, and two bruised ones," Shippo stated matter-of-factly. "You also got one _nasty_ infection from that bite on your arm. I had to shoot you up with antibiotics while you were out."

"I thought it might end up that way…" she sighed. "His breath was disgusting."

Shippo chuckled. "I put the sling on for you because his teeth damaged some muscles in your upper arm. It's not too serious, but now that you're moving around a little bit, I think it's better to be safe than sorry."

"Okay," Kagome replied simply, looking back over at Sesshomaru. "How is he?"

"He's okay, though not that close to being recovered," Shippo said truthfully, taking on a thoughtful expression. "He wakes up briefly a couple times a day…asks about you, says something snobby, the usual."

"He asks about me?" she questioned, almost shyly.

"He seems very invested in your wellbeing," Shippo said, grinning impishly as Kagome blushed.

"Here," Shippo urged, opening his hand revealing a few pills. "You need to keep taking the antibiotics, and I brought you some aspirin."

"Thank you," she said with feeling. It felt like there was a ram doing all sorts of shenanigans in her head.

As Shippo handed her the glass of water, he looked down and let out a smirk.

"Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty. Would you like some aspirin too?"

Sesshomaru glared, not managing to look nearly as threatening with tousled hair.

"Obviously." He growled out, eliciting another smirk from the fox demon.

"I'll be back with more," he called out, bounding across the room and out the door.

The two in the bed looked at each other for a moment.

"I'm so sorry," Kagome said, dropping her gaze to her lap. "All this is my fault." Sesshomaru looked so vulnerable. It was a side of him she was recently seeing more and more of, and it was honestly not very enjoyable.

Sesshomaru let out a soft snort. "You flatter yourself."

"But-"

"My problems with Phoenix Corp started long before you walked into the picture," he said simply, closing his eyes.

"They did?" She asked quietly, surprised. She imagined Sesshomaru to be rather revered in most demon circles. She watched with shock as a small smile curved his lips.

"Those pups despise me." His response earned a smile from Kagome in return. She was enjoying this more expressive Sesshomaru, but chalked it up to his current health issues. She wondered how extensive his injuries were.

"Are…are you okay?" Kagome asked him timidly, fiddling with the buttons on the sleeve of her shirt. "I'm sorry I accidentally started to purify you…my powers haven't been used that way in a while…obviously."

"I noticed." He replied, taking a deep breath. It was clear that he was ready to fall asleep again, and frankly, it looked like he needed rest more than anything. She valiantly fought the urge to trace his slightly darkened stripes, glad that there was some color returned to his face.

"Hey," she said, daring to shake his shoulder gently. "You're going to want that aspirin before you go to sleep, I bet."

"Hn," was all she could get out of him at that point.

As if on cue, Shippo returned, brandishing his retrieved items. He took a seat on the side of the bed and poured two asprin capsules out of their bottle.

"Open up." The fox commanded playfully, seemingly unaffected by the thunderous growl that rumbled from the dog demon.

"Shippo!" Kagome admonished.

Sesshomaru ignored the both of them and forced himself into a sitting position, even though his muscles screamed in protest and it felt like something exploded inside his head. To his surprise, Kagome came to his rescue when his traitorous arms gave out; her hand reached out to catch the back of his head before it smacked against the headboard.

Kagome regretted the sudden movement immediately as her ribs protested vehemently.

Shippo, saw the intensely pained looks on both of their faces and rolled his eyes.

"Idiots." He made quick work of handing over the little white pills, which Sesshomaru swallowed quickly without water. Shippo helped him lie back down without a word, taking care to remove Sesshomaru's claws from where they had dug into the soft down of the bed.

Kagome noticed this and immediately turned her attention towards the window, knowing that pride was a prominent trait in both dog demon brothers. Sheer white curtains prevented her from seeing out clearly, but Kagome thought that she could make out the shapes of pine trees. Suddenly she was very tired again and wanted nothing more than a long nap.

"Here," Shippo murmured in her ear, helping to adjust her loosened sling. "You look like you're ready to drop."

She nodded in reply, looking down at an already asleep Sesshomaru. "Uh, tomorrow…is there another room I can stay in?"

"Oh, definitely. I was just keeping you here together until at least one of you improved enough to be on your own."

"Thank you, Shippo," She told him, placing a hand over one of his. "For everything. I don't know where I'd be without you and Sesshomaru."

"In trouble?" He offered, grinning, then replied more seriously, "You're welcome." He squeezed her hand and leaned back, going through the motions of tucking her in.

"I am glad to see you," he told her, "despite the circumstances."

"Me too," she sighed, smiling up at him. "I thought I'd never see any of you again…that all I had left were memories…" She let out a yawn. "I'm happy that I'm not the only one left."

"Me too." Shippo said, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead. "I'll wake you for your next round of pills."

"Thanks," Kagome murmured, sinking down into sleep.


End file.
